Hoping to clean up from a deep, wet snow

As I’m writing this, the wind is howling outside my window and forecasters are predicting we could get some measurable precipitation this week in the form of snow or ice or that delicious sounding “wintry mix.”

It’s the kind of week that makes me grateful for the science of meteorology.

Our pioneer grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t have the advantage we have of knowing when weather events were on the horizon or sometimes more importantly, knowing when they’d be done.

I’m inside by a heater with a warm mug of coffee. Later this afternoon, I’ll light my fireplace and decide what kind of soup to make.

I still have remnants of one of the early shacks that housed my grandparents and their four kids, and I can’t help but think of them with great sympathy on weeks like this.

They had no way to know that storms like the one we are expecting would be bearing down upon them.

Even if they had, the thin walls of that wooden shack offered minimal protection from the elements. Snowflakes and grains of sand elbowed their way through those cracks like black Friday shoppers competing for a bargain. The wind wailed as mournfully inside as it did outside.

When a blue norther came rumbling in, they could only guess how many days it might be until they wouldn’t have to ax through ice to have access to water, or whether they had gathered a sufficient mound of dry cow chips and grubbed a big enough pile of mesquite roots to warm them through the cold spell.

Modern meteorology isn’t an exact science — especially when it comes to moisture — but it’s highly accurate at allowing forecasters to alert us to wind speed and dangerous temperatures and the arrival and departure times of storm systems. We don’t get many big surprises.

By the time you read this, the sun will have emerged and warmer temperatures will be on the way.

There is comfort in knowing that.

But please, please let us be cleaning up from a deep, wet snow. The ancestors would approve.

Betty Williamson wants to build a snowman. Reach her at:

[email protected]