Is That Snow?!?!

The city where I live, just north of Los Angeles, has had snow three times since I have been alive – 1973 (the year I was born), 1988, and 1989.  The newspaper reported that we also got snow in 2007, but I don’t remember that so it must have been very little.  So January 2, 2011 goes on my record book as the first snow we’ve had in over 20 years.  Yes, we got snow!

Rain was predicted for the day.  Although it was cloudy this morning, we didn’t see any rain until about 12:30 PM when I left to pick up a friend at  the Los Angeles Airport.  Driving over the hill on the freeway the rain seemed to be a little flakier than usual, but as the thought of snow popped in my head, I drove down the hill into the Valley where the rain was falling.  Traffic in LA is bad enough on a delightfully sunny day, so when we have any type of weather, it often comes to a stand still.  My ride down was fairly quick, other than the rain, but the ride back into town was very slow moving so by the time we arrived back into town, about two and a half hours had passed since I had left.  As we drove over the hill it took us a minute to realize what we were seeing.

That’s snow you guys!

Driving Into My Neighborhood

My house
The View From the Front Porch
The Backyard
Rigby’s first snow…she seemed to enjoy it! Footprints

It continued to snow into the evening and actually started to accumulate over time.  This is the backyard a couple hours later.  

My trees (especially the poor palms) are drooping with the weight.  But as I write this, the precipitation has stopped and the temperature has gone up a tiny bit.  It sounds as if it is raining, but it’s really the water melting off the trees, fences, and roofs.  We probably won’t have much left when morning comes. 

Granted, I know that those of you who live where there is actually winter weather on a regular basis are probably laughing at these pictures and asking, “You call that snow?!?!”  I lived in New England for 8 years so I have seen my share of snowy weather, but I have been back in Southern California for 11 years now and this is the first snow I’ve seen since then.  I’m basking in the excitement of it!  I love winter!