What If It Snowed in Fresno?
Before living in Fresno, I had never before found myself in a locale where snow was all but impossible. Fresnans, please admit that it never really snows here. Oh sure, folks talk about "the great snow of 1967" when a couple inches of white stuff hit the ground. People actually tried to make snowmen out of it. Others tell me that there was a white dusting several years back. "Everything was white," they tell me.
I'm sure it looked nice. Perhaps it tickled the imagination of all, young and old. But that's a far cry from a real snowfall.
I spent more than a decade in the southeastern part of the US. It rarely snowed any significant amounts there, but an occasional snow storm did occasionally pass through. I remember below-freezing temps continuing for days as we pulled out sleds. I even built a snow fort in the yard. That was real snow.
I've spent two decades in northern places that had significant winters. Temps would sometimes hover below 32 F for weeks as we watched inches of snowfall turn a crusty gray, still glistening perhaps on the hills but clotting up the walkways and driveways. We once had a single snowfall of 20+ inches that practically shut down our community for a week.
Fresno has no such weather, neither the former nor the latter. Snow here, even if it does blow in the wind, is little more than a frozen morning fog. It's a mere distraction from the otherwise normal onset of spring.
In all honesty, the weather does carry a significant threat to our economy. Almond trees are in fragile blossom mode, and a freezing temperature could threaten this year's profitable almond crop. Each place has its own weather hazards, I suppose.
Snow isn't far from us. An hour's drive can bring one up to 6,000 feet above sea level and the major snow of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. The ski resort of China peak is 75 miles northeast of Fresno. Although I may scoff at the forecast of snow tomorrow here in Fresno, the weather around here is still no laughing matter. But I nonetheless scoff at "snow" in the prediction for tomorrow.
I'm sure it looked nice. Perhaps it tickled the imagination of all, young and old. But that's a far cry from a real snowfall.
I spent more than a decade in the southeastern part of the US. It rarely snowed any significant amounts there, but an occasional snow storm did occasionally pass through. I remember below-freezing temps continuing for days as we pulled out sleds. I even built a snow fort in the yard. That was real snow.
Fresno has no such weather, neither the former nor the latter. Snow here, even if it does blow in the wind, is little more than a frozen morning fog. It's a mere distraction from the otherwise normal onset of spring.
Snow isn't far from us. An hour's drive can bring one up to 6,000 feet above sea level and the major snow of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. The ski resort of China peak is 75 miles northeast of Fresno. Although I may scoff at the forecast of snow tomorrow here in Fresno, the weather around here is still no laughing matter. But I nonetheless scoff at "snow" in the prediction for tomorrow.
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