Luke's First Snowball

"In like a lion, out like a lamb," right? Well, March came in like a very cold and snowy lion today. And I beg the indulgence of my friends for whom snow is very common. (Why is she taking all these pictures? It's just snow!) This is a very unusual event for Atlanta. Actually, it is really Luke's first good snowstorm with any sort of decent accumulation. Keep in mind that it was 70 degrees (21 C) on Thursday, and 60 degrees (15 C) yesterday.

We needed to go to Costco, and Luke is on an Olive Garden kick, so seeing as they are very near each other, we made the trip up there. They'd been saying for days that it was going to snow, but it was still only raining when we arrived at the restaurant. By the time we left, there were some large fat flakes mixed in there, but it was still mostly rain. After just 5 minutes on the way to Costco, it was about 1/2 snow and 1/2 rain. I tried to get a picture, in case it stopped by the time we left (not a good picture, I know, but it will be significant in a moment). This photo is time stamped at 12:28 PM.



We left Costco 45 minutes later (photo time stamped 1:14 PM), and saw this! (Below and above photos are virtually the same shot/angle; note the small tree on the right and the flag on the left.)



Holy cow! It just doesn't snow like that in Atlanta. I wanted to get a picture of Luke with our car to try and show how much it had snowed, and in case it wasn't snowing much at our house. I was a little annoyed at first that this snowflake obscured part of Luke's face, but it is actually pretty cool. The flakes (or clumps of flakes, really) were just huge!



This is what our windshield looked like from the inside. I still can't believe it snowed over an inch in just 45 minutes.



Here is some of what we saw on the way home. I was trying to capture how large the flakes were and how quickly they were falling. We had left the house around 10:30 AM, and it wasn't even snowing yet. Amazing that things could change so rapidly in only 2.5 hours.



The entire time we were driving home in the snow, Luke was going on and on about how it was snowing so he could make a snowball. (He also asked if it was Christmas. Um, no, it's actually almost spring!) I don't know how or why he was so obsessed with the idea, I was just hoping it had snowed enough at our house to allow him to do so. I needn't have worried. This is the town sign that greets you as you drive in.



And this is the side street that leads from the main drag to our street. I was really shocked at how much snow was sticking to the roads. It's been so warm lately (it was 70 degrees on Thursday, for goodness sake), I really didn't think it would stick at all. I guess it just couldn't keep up with how fast and thick it was coming down.



My best attempt at an artistic shot. I just couldn't get enough contrast with most of the snow covered things and the white snowy backgrounds to do them justice.



Luke reluctantly posing for me:



Remember the snowball obsession? Here he is with his first snowball:



And what better to do with snowballs than throw them at the big tree in the front yard? (because you know you will die if you throw them at your parents!)



Who knew playing in the snow was so tiring? We couldn't have been out there 30 minutes, but he flat wore himself out. He was asleep by 30 minutes into Empire Strikes Back (which he wanted to watch to see all the snow), and he slept nearly an hour after it was over. Quite the day, I'd say!



Currently feeling: frosty