Freak Storm

I have suffered from major culture shock since having moved to the south. It has been a difficult adjustment for me to make, and I am still in the process. About the only thing I really enjoy about West Tennessee is the climate.



In Ohio, Michigan and Iowa, all during winter I would need to get up early in the morning to shovel the drive, warm-up and defrost the car, brush snow off, and dress very warm. It was advisable to keep blankets in the car and a full tank of gas at all times.



Down here, while the winter can get chilly, it rarely goes below freezing. I like that. I like it a lot. I like getting up at a reasonable hour for work and driving there stress free. I don't miss how tense my shoulders would get trying to navigate through white-outs and black ice patches on my way to and from work. I like not having a death grip on the steering wheel everytime I get in the car and need to go somewhere. I like not having to say things like "ok, lets plan to do that...weather permitting" which means if it doesn't snow. I enjoy the fact that I don't need to buy sandbags every year to put in the back of my pick-up. I also like not having salt facilitating the metal-eating rust chomping away at my vehicle. Yep, it is the climate in Tennesse I enjoy.



Then, even that gets ruined today! IT SNOWED ABOUT 3 INCHES! It was coming down like crazy! The weather people are calling it a "freak storm". Hmpf! 3 inches isn't much to northerners like me...but I still take notice because when I look at the calendar is says: APRIL 13!!!!!!!!!! April = Spring. Spring in the south should mean NO SNOW! Matter of fact, we never even saw snow this past winter! Most of today's snow has melted away now, it's about 1:30 in the afternoon, and the forecast is calling for temperatures near 75 degrees on Thursday.



Freak Storm...I can hardly believe it!



I got called to work for an issue and I had to slip and slide my way out to Jeepers. I had to get out the UNUSED snow brush that was in the back only because the car used to be in Ohio, and clean off the Jeep! I said "I hate SNOW!" Memories of spin outs in northern states while driving on slick roads with limited visibility came rushing back as I drove to work. I was thinking...is this a joke? Nah, it's not April 1st...what is going on?



Freak storm.