Snow Big Deal

It's the 13th of February, and we've just gotten our first measurable snowfall of the winter. A whole inch. It didn't even cover all the grass in the yard. Frankly, I'm disappointed.

Surprisingly, we didn't run a ton of wrecks this morning. Didn't have any, in fact. Normally the first real snow of the winter results in absolute chaos on the roads. Generally, nobody gets seriously injured, but there are a lot of aches and pains from sliding into the ditch, or trying to fight the steering wheel in an effort to keep out of said ditch. A few slideoffs this morning, but not too bad, all things considered.

I expected a lot worse, considering how snowy roads are usually managed around here. I grew up in northwestern Iowa, so I learned to drive on ice and snow. The rules are actually very simple: Slow down, think ahead, then slow down some more. Follow those, and you'll generally get where you're going. All you need is a little extra time. In Iowa, most towns won't plow snow, especially the heavy wet kind we got here this morning, until there's three or four inches on the ground. The wet stuff doesn't blow around all that much, and once there's been a little traffic on it, it either turns to slush that most tires can squish out of the way, or packs down and refreezes, which gives you a surface a lot like wet pavement to drive on. Most towns spread a little sand at the intersections so you can get traction to stop and restart, but that's about it. Everybody KNOWS it's gonna be a little slick, so they slow down and go about their business.

Around HERE, however, if more than four snowflakes accumulate on any road in the county, crews are out spreading brine and rock salt, and scraping every road they can get a plow truck onto. Never mind that the only thing they're doing is moving snow that tires can grab traction in to the side of the road and leaving a thin skim of water that instantly refreezes to a glasslike surface. That road is now CLEAR. It's dangerous as all hell, but the pavement is visible, and that's the goal. So people go flying down the road, and wind up in the ditch. Then we get to take the ambulance, which handles with all the precision of a cow on ice on a GOOD day, out to the middle of a slippery highway, stand on the side of the road for twenty minutes, all to have someone tell us face to face that no, they aren't hurt, and don't want to go to the hospital. They all tell us the same thing. "It looked OK, so I went for it." I know. It happens every winter.

But I don't mind. That inch of snow out there has made everything clean and quiet. I'm sitting here typing, sipping a cup of coffee, with the dog snoozing on the couch next to me. Out the window, I can see a couple of deer walking across my hill. It's warm in the house, and it's quiet. At least until the kids get home from school. Let 'em plow the roads unnecessarily. I don't care. It's no big deal to me.