Snow and more snow!

This is the view out my kitchen window.

We were under a "lake effect snow warning" most of the day Thursday. For those of you who are not familiar with lake effect snow, please read the following:

The heaviest lake-effect snow episodes usually occur when a bitter cold outbreak dives southeast across the Great Lakes. As cold air flows over the warm water, the bottom layer over the surface of the water is heated from below. Moisture also evaporates into the air as it is heated. Since warm air is lighter and less dense than cold air, the heated air rises and begins to cool. As the air cools, the moisture that evaporated into it condenses and forms clouds. When enough moisture condenses out of the air, snow falls over the regions downwind of the Great Lakes. The greater the temperature contrast between the cold air and the warm water, the heavier the snow showers will be. If the temperature contrast is great enough, the rising air will have enough buoyancy to form thundersnow, which are thunderstorms that have snow falling out of them rather than rain.

I happen to live in one of these so called snow bands and in the last 2-3 days we have received about 18 inches of new snow! Now this is the kind of Michigan winter I grew up with. We use to play outside every day in this stuff and we didn't know anything about windchill back then either. Cold was cold and that's all there was to it!! We went sledding, and built snowmen and rolled down hills and had snowball fights and went ice skating at the local outdoor rink. When your toes and fingers hurt and you could no longer feel your nose we knew it was time to head inside for some much needed warming up and a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating in it. If we were really lucky we might also get some homemade cookies or brownies! Yum yum! And you know what else? I don't ever remember having a 'snow day' off from school! School was held no matter what and was only dismissed early if there was a tornado warning or watch. I guess we were tougher in those days; or maybe they just didn't know as much technology back then and no one really knew just how cold it was.

It is official now, the television just announced that we received 9 inches of new snow yesterday....I guess there is even more snow out there than I thought. There is another snow advisory out for today for more snow and blowing and drifting snow from noon until 7 PM, and than at midnight EST, we will be under a 'winter snow warning' until midnight on Saturday.

I think it sounds as if it's a good thing that we didn't have any plans to go anywhere to watch Superbowl Sunday! We will only have to worry about getting Amber back home safely....she is coming for the weekend today after school. Hubby will pick her up after he gets out of work....maybe we can build a snowman and slide down the hill and then come in for hot chocolate!