Snow Flurries Here in Gainesville This Morning

This morning I slept in, as usually is the case on Saturday mornings.  Melissa had some interesting news for me when I finally did drag myself out of bed: there were snow flurries outside!  I knew from yesterday's forecast that today it would be very cold (for northern Florida, that is) all day long, and that flurries were possible as far south as I-10...about 50 miles north of my Gainesville.  When I stood outside on the back porch to see the snowfall, I had to train my eyes a little...but there it was: little white specks fluttering down in different directions, blown about by the strong winds.  I've been told that we also had snow flurries about five years ago...but I don't remember seeing any then.  As a matter of fact, speaking just of Florida, the last time I experienced snow was here in Gainesville one morning just before Christmas in 1989. The quite substantial amount of snowfall, not just flurries, came on the heels of a long, stormy night with sleet freezing the roads and coating windshields thickly with ice.  When I got off from work on my graveyard shift that morning, it took a while to clear my windshield...and then I had to very carefully drive home on the icy roads.  After finally reaching my house, the snowfall began.  We also had icicles hanging from our bushes everywhere.  Even now, 26 years later, nothing this "wintery" has again occurred in north-central Florida...

It's interesting to see snow in Gainesville, even it it's just flurries.  Still, I am grateful to live in a place that is usually dry when the temperatures get below freezing.  My heart goes out to all those in the eastern U.S. who are struggling with the blizzards, frozen roads, and cancelled flights during the historic winter storm currently going on...