It’s “Snowing” in Virginia!

Last night, we received the first “real” snow of the winter—a whopping 2 inches or so.  It’s enough to close every school in the county.  While this may seem ridiculous to residents of snow-drenched states (like my family in Utah), I have come to accept that it is slightly necessary here in Virginia.  Virginians are just not used to driving in the white stuff and our vehicles are generally not snow-suitable.  Every time they don’t close school, there is almost always a severe traffic accident involving teenagers driving to and from high school.  Also, the higher traffic volumes on our roads pose a greater risk of accidents in general.

So, as I sit inside sniffling, I will give you the ski report from last week.

We had our second ski lesson last week.  There was snow in the forecast for Virginia that day of up to 8 inches, which is pretty huge by Fredericksburg standards.  Everything closed as a precaution.  (I’m sure it also helped that it was the Friday before a 3-day weekend as well.)

The snow ended up bypassing our area completely, which was unfortunate because we were really looking forward to skiing on fresh snow for our Friday ski lessons.  The upside, however, was that it was a clear drive to the resort.

And when we arrived it was “snowing” of sorts.

Well, snowing from the “snow guns.”  I have never seen snowmaking equipment in operation.  It just wasn’t necessary whenever I was skiing in Utah.  And I don’t think anyone called it “snow guns.”    Here in Virginia, we seem to have a “gun” for every purpose.

The snow produced by a snow gun is different from real snow.  It is more like fine grains of sand than fluffy snowflakes.  But it looks pretty and it seems to be just fine for skiing.

Since I am not used to artificial snow, I didn’t know that when the resort decides to make snow, you need to dress as though you are skiing in a blizzard, which means goggles and neck gaiter.  Fortunately, the ski instructors let my kids borrow some.

My kids are making great progress.  My eldest has her wedge down great!

Any my youngest is skiing the lift like a champ, but she doesn’t want you to know about it.

While I joke that snow is not serious business here in Virginia, certainly sometimes it can be.  When the snow bypassed us last week, it did hit southwestern Virginia more severely.  The Virginia Department of Emergency Management posted a great reminder about snow driving on its Facebook page.

Is it snowing where you are?  Please share in the comments.