Memories of Snow

March 28, 1987

The early morning felt like spring. I was a junior in high school, driving, but not yet old enough to concern myself with the weather forecast. That’s why it surprised me to look out the window to see snow coming down. Heavy snow. By the end of the hour, we couldn’t see the street for the wall of white.

At some point, I received a message from the office. It said, “Mom says come home now!”

I looked out the window thinking she must be crazy.

Later I learned that her message had in fact been, “DON’T come home now!” The phone lines were overwhelmed when I tried to call her back. It wasn’t long before the power was out, and the school was sending bus students home. I heard later that the highways were closed before most busses got there. The official “school closing” hour was set for noon, I believe, but few students stayed that long.

I left school early with two good friends, Ann Marie and Elisabeth, and the blessings of Ann Marie’s father, our government teacher. The three of us had to link arms to move against the wind. I remember watching Ann Marie, braced against the wind, but moving backward every time she took a step. I later learned that the blizzard had winds of 70-80 miles per hour. The snow was blinding, as well as painful when it hit your face. Luckily, Ann Marie’s house was near the school. We made it there in my car without incident, and I spent the next two days hanging out with her family.

I remember the next morning, bundling up and going out in the yard “to play.” Even as juniors in high school, we couldn’t resist the temptation of so many inches of beautiful white snow. We built a snow tunnel. I think we tried for a snowman. My car was so buried at her curb, it was two days before we saw it, only to realize once it was uncovered that I had left the lights on in the storm and therefore run the battery completely dead.

That was western Kansas. I don’t know if I just didn’t pay as much attention when I was a kid, or if the big storms really did pop up out of nowhere and surprise us like that. I’ve never forgotten the taste of that hard snow against my face, the feeling of being so small and weak in the face of nature.

Did I mention that we are under a severe weather advisory today? Rain and sleet fell through the night. They are predicting 5-8 inches of snow accumulation by tomorrow morning. The winds, however, are only expected to be in the 20-30 mile and hour range.

I plan to be inside, with hot cocoa and a good book at my disposal.