S-NOW

It’s snowing here in Billings right now.  It either got an early start or a late start at it.  Last night, there was an 80% chance of snow.  It only began snowing at about 0600 hrs this morning.  There’s also an 80% chance of it snowing this afternoon.  Well, it’s already (?) snowing.  Or is it just beginning to snow from last night?  I can’t tell.

Meteorologists are always off half a bubble.  I don’t blame them for the weather.  This is Montana: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it’ll change!  Anyone who thinks they can predict the weather here is a fool.  Billings is in a valley bordered by a river to the south and the rims to the north.  Beyond those, of course, are mountain ranges on a much larger scale.  Billings tends to break up storms when they come from the west because of the hot air dome that all of the asphalt and cement create over the city.  If the weather comes in from the north or the south, though, Billings usually gets hit with it.  In the rare case that the storm wraps around and comes in from the east, Billings gets hammered.  Those are just the weather patterns I’ve noticed from living here for a few decades.  This year really has been a mild winter so far, with warm temperatures and little moisture.  I don’t like the slick roads that the s-now brings, but I do realize that we need the precipitation.

If you’re wondering about the curious spelling of “s-now”, it’s because last year we broke the record for annual snowfall in Billings, and it is, this year at least, considered a taboo word in my family’s household, haha!  So, instead of snow, we say s-now.  It’s more in fun than anything.  We already have a few inches this morning and it’s not looking as if it’s going to let up anytime soon!  I’d say they might as well have said 100% for the day!  I’ll be getting my YakTrax Pro wear out for my walk with Gramma and Squiggle Bug today.