Weather … or Not

"The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked." ~Psalm 77:17-18

"He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor." ~Job 37:6-7

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." ~Psalm 19:1

A storm rolls in, June 2007.


My hubby thought I was crazy for taking pictures of the sky ... until he saw them. Pretty amazing, huh? :-)

I am a bit of a weather junkie. About the only times I sit in front of the TV (except for extremely rare occasions to watch fine programming such as “Deal or No Deal” or “Wishbone”) you’ll find it tuned to a news channel with some goofy guy standing in front of a green screen with a detonator, er, remote control. Aside from that, I am frequently refreshing the radar map at weather.com. My husband teases me mercilessly, frequently asking, “So, are we having weather today? Heh heh.” Yeah, yeah. Bug off.

A good ol' Southern girl, I find it completely appropriate that someone trained in meteorology could get worked up over, say, “conditions favorable for tornadic activity.” My husband, on the other hand, being from the Pacific Northwest and having no experience with twisters (yep, just earthquakes and volcanoes for him … oh, and lots and lots of drizzle) thinks we’re all a little OCD during tornado season. The skies darken and all the major networks grace the airwaves with watches, warnings, and over-the-air adrenaline. It’s like a big game they play – imagine taking advantage of dangerous weather conditions to get ratings. But it works, so that says something about us Southerners.

But, not this week. No, no tornadoes this week. Just spring warmth. And then snow. And then spring warmth. And then snow. And then spring warmth …

Our biggest snow since moving here, Valentine's Day 2004

Last weekend we were outside in all the glory of spring - bulbs sprouting, birds chirping. By Monday, however, we bundled up and were blessed to be the recipients of scattered snow flurries. Wednesday we were again in shorts and T-shirts. And Thursday? Well, winter hit yet again. (Welcome to Texas.)

At noon I supervised the (very excited) elementary students as they “walked” across the parking lot to the main building after lunch (Be careful – it’s slick! No, we’re not going to stay here the rest of the day; yes, you do have to go back to class; no, we can't have science in the gym …) while being pelted by a wild sleet shower. By the time school let out, it was quickly becoming a winter wonderland outside. I (in an extraordinary display of my very mature administrative skills) intentionally disturbed one of the last two classes (ok, they only had a few minutes left anyway) to point them toward the blizzard. The looks on their faces coupled with dramatic "oohs" and "aahs" made the interruption all worthwhile, and I think the teacher will forgive me.

Upon our return home (despite some growing disappointment as we went from a “more snow” region to the “not as much snow” region) the kids promptly went into the backyard. Perhaps it was because they could still see the grass, I don’t know, but neither one of them wore a coat. Gloves. That is all they wanted – gloves. “Because we don’t want our hands to get cold making snowballs!” Yes, I see. Impeccable logic. I stepped outside to take a picture (wearing no coat – what can I say?) but I could only stay out about 30 seconds before the chill sent me shivering inside where I watched my little thermal-resistant progeny play and play and play … and play … while all the while I'm thinking, "I really should make them come in, but it's too cold to go out and get 'em." (I read recently that “being” cold does not actually cause one to "get" a cold. Yeah, I’m banking on that.)

Eventually the kids re-emerged from their Arctic escapade with handfuls of white stuff. “Can we put these in the freezer?” OK, who doesn’t need a snowball or two in their freezer? Sure, why not. I figured they would be there for months until we went camping and forgot to buy ice or something, but they surprised me today when they wanted to take them back out and smash them against the fence. It took a while to get them detached from the ceramic plates we had frozen them on (yeah, that was smart), but eventually we succeeded. I had to capture the moment … 'cause even in Texas it’s not every day that you can take a 20-hour-old snowball outside and throw it under the spring sun in shorts and a t-shirt ... and, of course, gloves, 'cause we're not crazy, you know.