276. Let It Snow. It is still winter.

You will recall my last entry ended with the weather-prognosticators proposing to their listeners that the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 was in for some snow and ice. And this time they got it right. We are accustomed to hearing that the snow went "just to the north, along a line from Paoli to Salem to Madison," or "just to the south, hitting Brandenburg [which gets all the weather], Elizabethtown, and Bardstown." This time the snow dropped from the skies onto our little burg along the river, stacking up to between four and six inches. That was Monday night. Early Tuesday morning brought an inch of ice on top of the snow which made the 210' walk to the bus-stop interesting, as most of it was on top of the ice which was on top of the snow. [As an aside, I wrote several entries back about the proposal to remove my bus-stop. That proposal was dropped after some private-citizen agitation to both the TARC office and to City Hall. I appreciate the help of my councilmember, David Tandy, in that episode.] Later yesterday, as the temperatures edged above freezing, some of the ice and snow melted which made for a slush-filled afternoon. But then temperatures dipped back down into the 20s, where they remain today, so no melting is occurring. There is some fresh snow blowing about, but no additional accumulation is expected.

I like the snow. I always have. I remember the big snows of 1978 and 1994 - 16 or 17 inches worth. The one in 1994 closed down the city, the interstates, even UPS and the airport. Governor Jones took it on the chin for the conditions of Kentucky's various highways. Both snowfalls remind of me my brother, as they both fell on his birthday, respectively his 16th and 32nd. We were both still teenagers when the first one hit. The second time was a Sunday night/Monday night and my brother had "stopped by to visit" at my then-home in Camp Taylor. As I recall, he stayed aobut six weeks. The 1994 snow was complicated by an even heavier snow just a few days later, one of 22 inches, Louisville's deepest snow fall.

There were big snows when I was younger, but maybe they weren't as big as I recall because I was a lot smaller. I remember (barely) November, 1967 as a big snow. There was also a big snow in April, 1986 on Good Friday, if memory serves me. It didn't last, though. By the day after Easter that year, all traces were gone. I've seen it snow on Hallowe'en, and on Derby Day and Breeders' Cup Day. But it seems it doesn't snow nearly as much as it used to. Maybe that's the Global Warming lots of people talk about but no one wants to admit it is affecting the Ohio Valley's snow patterns. Or maybe I just like snow and wish we'd have more of it.

My mother says it is nice to look at as long as she doesn't have to get out in it. I still like getting out in it.

Unrelated, today is my Aunt Judy's birthday. She is the widow of my father's older brother, Uncle Don, who passed away in 2005. I called her this morning and wished her well. We talked politics for a minute, which isn't a big surprise.

Happy Birthday Aunt Judy.