After an unusually cold February including a week of snow (we got about 4 inches here on the island, but my family got almost a foot in Seattle and my son over two in the Cascade Mountain foothills) we were thinking we had had winter and were looking forward to spring. Today the forecast called for rain but it has been snowing all day. Its not sticking very much, but still. Many winters have no snow at all, so this seems like overkill. (I know, I know....... all of you in hard winter areas can call me a snowflake.)
The element of surprise today takes me back so clearly to childhood. I grew up on this same island and in those days (dinosaurs had just disappeared) weather forecasting was much less accurate. The mountains of the Olympic Peninsula on the western edge of Washington State protect Puget Sound from the fury of the open ocean, but they split and twirl the air streams that flow over them, resulting in highly various weathers on this side. Before satellite imaging meteorologists could see the big fronts coming from the west or the north, but had no idea how they would affect any given area in the Sound. They gave percentage possibilities for precipitation but we knew it was guesswork and could not depend upon them to make plans. Mostly, weather was just what it was where you were, a daily surprise. The best surprise was snow, of course because it was so unusual, and meant a break from school. I remember dragging myself out of bed in the darkness of winter, expecting to go through the usual morning motions, dreading my scheduled arithmetic test, when my mother threw open the drapes and the transformed world announced a holiday. Oh happy snow!
Now the forecasters have so many more tools to work with that our weather is much less mysterious. We get updates on our phones that tell us to expect rain at four o'clock and nervously warn us of approaching snow possibilities. It is better in many ways but sometimes I miss the blessing of unexpected delight.