Snow

My inspiration for this post came from a fragment of a recent weather forecast. “…there will be snow…” Here in Atlanta, GA the idea of snow excites a “blue million” responses—ranging from virtually ignored, to rather indifferent, to frenzied. We have never experienced heavy, long-lasting banks of deep snow. At worst, even heavy snow is typically gone after a week or so. However a perfect storm of climate change, increasingly large paved interstate highways, heavier tractor-trailer, and auto traffic has given pause to our traditional snow-come ice attitudes.

It is no longer strange in winter to see in Atlanta snow plows, Quonset Huts filled with salt, brine tanks standing ready, sand, and snow/ice warning signs in Department Of Transportation preparation. To a great extent Snowpocalypse, eleven years ago this month begot all that. Although blamed on the snow fall, the overwhelming culprit was Black Ice hiding under just 2.5 inches of show. tractor-trailers skidded, jackknifed, cars lost traction, and for a good while nothing could traverse the multiple interstates leading into, out of, and around the city.

That Winter was a far cry from singing I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, while sitting by the fire watching Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney sing about snow, in the classic Christmas Movie, White Christmas. Here in the South, we often think longingly for a White Christmas—-but we only want a photo op, the brief thrill, and not messy entanglements. People who live in the land of snow, know from cradle-to-grave, how to plan for it, adapt to it, and find their own ways for joy in it. It is called adaptation.

Snow, those glist’ning houses that seem to be built of snow / Snow, oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow-–lyrics from the song in White Christmas make the idea of snow a dazzling treasure. I think snow is beautiful. I love to see pictures of snow, and hear stories about snow, and sing songs about snow. An average snowflake is about 5 millimeters in diameter and weighs about 4 milligrams. A typical rose petal weighs about 0.2 grams in comparison. The snowflake seems to weigh nothing—but when enough snowflakes fall on a shed, or roof, or city—enough of those snow flakes can be deadly, cause catastrophe—in a word, cost a king’s ransom.

How can something so lovely, so attractive, even fun in many ways—be such a villain? Snow is not the only thing in nature that is lovely to look at, but harboring deadly possibilities. Plants, animals, well, even people can likewise be lovely/lethal. Although Samson (The Book of Judges) was a wise judge, he was also a fallible human being. As such he fell for the beauty of Delilah—which in turn was his downfall. It doesn’t have to be that way. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting” is a quote from Proverbs 31:30 in the Bible. The quote highlights the contrast between temporary, external qualities and the enduring, internal quality of godliness. (Quoted from Overview).

P.S. Couldn’t have anticipated this, but now, just as I’m ready to publish this post–the front yard—and as far as I can see—everything is covered in a thick blanket of—SNOW!

©Copyright 2025 Willis H. Moore