It's always snowy in NEPA

I went to visit my parents in southcentral Pa. earlier this week, and on both ends of the trip down I-81, I hit snow in Schuylkill County. This prompted me to post on Facebook, "It's always snowy in Schuylkill County."

Well, I'm not sure if Schulykill County exactly falls under the NEPA umbrella (I know it's coal country, at least), but I've discovered something this winter: It's always snowy in NEPA.

Last winter was, thankfully, mild. I say thankfully because we hadn't sold our house in the 'grove yet and Joe was semi-commuting (he did have an apartment by that point, thank goodness, but he came home on his days off). For all the time both of us spent driving back and forth, we lucked out on the snow front.

This winter, our first as full-fledged NEPA residents, has been much different.

Now, I like snow. "Of course you do," you say. "You work from home. You don't have to drive in it." Well, sure. I also liked it during my brief stint in Northern Va. when my company followed the federal government and everything closed for two flakes. :-) But I digress.

We've had a few actual snowstorms - three, four, six, seven inches. Big deal, right? Here's why I say it's always snowy in NEPA: I'd venture a guess that in the past two months, almost every day, we see flurries.

The sun can be shining, or at least peeping through clouds, and the flakes are flying. Almost every day's forecast calls for "some snow showers."

It's really not so bad. Most of the time, it doesn't even stick to the roads, or even the grass, and is just pretty. If it does stick, it melts quickly. As I said to Joe the other day, "It's like living in a snowglobe."

And then there's days like this morning where you do wake up to an unexpected covering of snow. As in, ground is white, driveway is covered. But by the time we left for Mass, it had melted enough that Joe didn't need to shovel the driveway. (Side note: This is how light most of these snowfalls are - my pregnant self could handle shoveling one the other night. It covered the parking pad, and I wanted to be nice, so I went out and shoveled before Joe came home. More like I pushed. It was that fluffy.)

Yet, the New England blizzard barely skimmed us and the BIG SNOWSTORM predicted for this week is currently on track to stay well south of us.

Bet we get flurries, though.