What’s the attraction? What’s the allure? Why is snow the superior form of precipitation over rain, hail or sleet? Why do people, particularly young people, feel the need to wrap themselves in so many layers that free mobility is compromised just to play in crystallized precipitation? Why is there so much anticipation and excitement with every snowfall? Why is there so much boo-hooing when there is not snow for Christmas? Do people who write songs and poems about snow actually live in cold weather states?
Sure, it is pretty for the first hour or two until the trucks and the dogs have their way with it. Some may consider it great fun to shape the crystallized precipitation into a ball and hurl it at a friend, foe or spouse; it is not so fun to be on the receiving end of the freezing sphere. Nor is too fun to be the recipient of the “ice down the pants prize”, which is an annual award in my house with me being the only beneficiary.
Wouldn’t a better game be a “Throw a Snuggie over mommy and force a cup of hot tea in her hand?” This game never occurs nor does “Let’s shovel the driveway and melt the snow off the stairs so mom doesn’t fall on her ass yet again in front the school bus driver and mail carrier.” It is these inconveniences caused by snowfall—shoveling, bad driving conditions, ice, dirt residue, and skin-cracking cold temperatures that people don’t consider when they are glued to their television waiting for their favorite precipitation to arrive.
If there was ever an overrated form of precipitation, it is snow.
