Crazy weather in Alabama

As I am typing this, the temperatures are in the 60s and heading into the 70s by afternoon. Less than a week ago I was looking at four inches of snow on the lawn. That is a crazy amount of snow for us. If we get snow it's usually just a few flakes that don't stick to anything. You'll say oh, it must be so nice to have temperatures in the 70s in February but check the barometer because a storm is coming. A storm with damaging winds and possible tornadoes. Winter to spring to summer and back to winter all in one week. No wonder we turn our meteorologists into weather gods as we seek guidance on what to wear.

The pictures above were taken the last week of January when an unexpected ice storm shut down Birmingham for three days. Folks north of us are free to make fun of us for the panic that accompanies snow. Most of the news reports I read and heard said snow was crippling the South. But it's not the snow we worry about. We worry about ice and hills and cars that don't have 4-wheel drive and drivers, especially the drivers, who don't know how to drive on ice. If there is a chance of snow and ice, we are closing up shop, emptying the grocery store and settling in for a cozy few days at home. 

The most upsetting part of the January 28 clusterflake for me was the few folks who said gee, if you knew it was going to ice why was everyone out in it? Because we didn't know! The storm line shifted and by the time we went to get the kiddos out of school the roads were iced. Had we known the whole city would have been home. Instead we're going to be talking about the ice storm of 2014 for a long time to come. Where did you abandon your car? Where did you sleep? How long did it take you to get home? (I actually got the van home, even up the hill. It took an hour to drive from school, normally a 10-minute trip — I was already at school so I didn't have to fight traffic and ice to get there. We got home before the roads completely iced over, blocked by abandoned cars. Our story is nothing compared to the ordeals of others walking miles to get home, their kids spending the night at school. For that I am grateful and oddly jealous.)

We'll be glued to the TV Thursday watching polygons and hook echoes as the squall line moves through. We may have been a little unkind to our local weather gurus after the ice storm but we'll listen to every word they say, all misunderstandings about a "dusting" of snow forgotten.

This is how WE do it

I live on one of the best streets in the whole US of A ... seriously, other folks are jealous of my neighbors (as they should be). Friday night I was down at one end of the street celebrating the end of the holidays into the wee hours. Sunday night, roaring bonfire at the other end. Doesn't everyone have a bonfire when it snows?

Don't you just dig this flamed fire pit? Designed/made by neighbor Shea.

Neighbor Mavis pulls Will and Moses in the sled as her daughter Guinevere follows. At this point, the flakes were really coming down. Of course the Scullys would have the most rockin' sled.

Joseph takes a turn with Will. Both were in their PJs when it started to snow. Oh well, we threw warm clothes over their PJs and headed outside to play.

After it snowed a good bit, the fun ended and the sky send down freezing rain instead. Which made our nice, fluffy snow very crunchy for the next day. Too crunchy and hard to walk on. You could skate on the road with just your sneakers. So instead of building snowmen, the kids spent more time sledding.

You know, you can slide down a hill on just about anything ...

Joe after his turn down the back alley in the kayak. There was much fun with this. My action shots turned out lousy but all the little and big boys had fun taking a ride. 

I know folks up North have to laugh at our panic over a few inches of snow. But what really got us all worked up this time was the ice ... snow and ice are not common events so we do not have the driving skills needed. Everything closed Monday and barely started to open today. Heck, I may still not leave the house Wednesday. Thankfully we did not lose power and weren't stuck home alone. I'll weather any storm with my great neighbors!

Stuck home

We've had some snow here down South but a nasty glaze of ice came with it. Stuck inside I made up my own flurry of snowflakes. Will didn't want to make any but used his scissors to cut out his own shapes while I worked.

I used the 5-pointed paper snowflake tutorial on How About Orange for variety. I had been wanting to try it for awhile. Pretty simple to follow and makes unique shapes.

I taped my flakes to the window. Rather cheesy.

These however are not cheesy ... check out here, here and here.

White Christmas!

Birmingham saw an amazing site Christmas Day ... SNOW! I wasn't happy earlier in the week when the weatherman started throwing the s-word around. Will was already excited enough that I didn't need one more thing to send him bouncing against the walls. Then Chris said the report changed, no snow. Then, less than 12 hours later the snow was back on and this time it was all but guaranteed. However, when it comes to snow in the South, seeing is believing. 

Even more amazing, it snowed off and on through the night. Then snowed most of the morning. Much did not stick to the ground but it was enough to have a decent snowball flight. Joseph loved it and had to be dragged into the house when his clothes got too wet. 

Now, the National Weather Service does not count our Christmas snow as a true "White Christmas" event. I beg to differ. That's my lawn. That is snow. It is Christmas. Very cool!