About the snow that lasted more than three hours

Last Friday we had a forecast of one to three inches of snow. Generally when they say that, we get somewhere between nothing and a flurry.

When we woke up on Friday morning ... nothing. When I left for work on Friday morning ... nothing. When I got to work on Friday morning ... nothing.

But then during my 10:00 meeting, the woman I was meeting with pointed out the window behind me and shouted, "Look!"



I guess by that point it had been snowing 30 minutes or an hour. I had to leave at 10:30 to get to Nathaniel's school for his 11:00 Valentine's party, and when I walked out the doors, there was a definite dusting.



In the parking lot, everything looked frosty.



Once on the road, I was practically engulfed in WHITEOUT CONDITIONS. For Alabama.



On the way to school, our neighborhood was awash in snow.



Most of the houses' roofs were already totally white.



And when I parked at school, my minivan had a nice little layer of snow on it.



Snow continued to fall while I was inside photographing Nathaniel's party, and I was amazed that it was still coming down. It so rarely snows at all here, and for it to keep falling for hours was crazy!



As a matter of fact, it seemed like it was getting even HEAVIER than it had been an hour before. WHITEOUT, I SAY.



I decided that an emergency stop at Chick-fil-A was necessary. Who knew when I'd get to eat again?



While I was waiting in the drive-through line, I noticed how much nicer snow looks as it's falling against a navy blue car ...



rather than a white one. Much less impressive.



Surprised that The Place Where I Work was still open, I headed back downtown to finish up my work for the afternoon. It's hard to tell, but traffic was a lot heavier headed south toward the suburbs than north toward downtown.



Grayson had actually met me at Nathaniel's school to pick him up because it closed at 12:30 due to the weather, and then he headed to daycare to pick up Nick and Jake. They went straight home and got in their cold-weather gear, such as it is.



They had a BLAST playing in the snow.



There was much jumping and throwing and a few tears.



They even built a snowman! I think it's the very first one we've ever built here, because we've never had enough accumulation to do it before.



It was almost as tall as they are!



I guess they couldn't find any good decorations, because it looks like they just used leaves for eyes, nose and mouth.



When I came home several hours later, the neighborhood looked so peaceful, shrouded in a pristine layer of snow.



The trees looked like storybook trees.



The houses looked like they'd been covered in powdered sugar.



And the Bradford pear in our yard looked like it was decorated with icy little branches.



So pretty!



As usual, most of the snow was gone within 24 hours, but it was really fun for the kids while it lasted. It might not snow again for several years, but I think this is one the boys will remember!