Big City Snow Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 
Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The Weather Notebook. Today author and storyteller Lorraine Johnson Coleman tells us about New York City winters.

Lorraine: "I think that the big city snow has a special beauty that many urban dwellers often overlook in the hustle and bustle of everyday living. Growing up in New York City, I noticed this was especially true of my twin sister, Loretta, who winter after winter would peer ever so pitifully out of our bedroom window trying her best to wish away the dreary blizzards that often trapped us indoors. Always the armchair traveler, Loretta would use this time to collect pictures of places she would someday be able to visit in order to escape the New York winter weather. Surprisingly, these weren't the warm tropical places you might imagine; instead many of them were destinations that featured the same bitter cold weather New York so proudly boasted. So what, I wondered, was the point of traveling for miles to see the same bucketful's of white stuff pouring down with fierce intensity that we had at home.

Snow in New York City has its own personality and that personality changed many times in its short lifetime. The first day, the snow sparkles with purity as it proudly covers the dirt and grime that lay there just a day before. Later you can gaze out at the carefully shoveled paths wrapping themselves around the city like a whimsical maze you could lose yourself in. The second day, the snow was grimier and a lot worse for wear as mud entered the mix and by the third day all that remained was the god-awful slush that seemed to turn the city into one big sloppy mess. Folks like my sister would curse the wet stuff, but not me; I celebrated New York City snow and it's many faces. Let Loretta have her far away winter wonderlands. As far as I was concerned, there was just no place like home."

Lorraine Johnson Coleman now calls Savannah, GA home, where she is an author and storyteller and where she only rarely sees snow. Our show is underwritten by Subaru, with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.