What a Blizzard Really Looks Like

Now that all kinds of people are getting their first taste of snow this season, I thought I would post a few words about what it’s like here in the Southwest. The image below was taken three years ago in the mountain valley community of San Cristobal, NM, about 20 minutes north of Taos. What you’re looking at is a blizzard bearing down on us from about 20 miles away. That’s what it looks like, a great big roiling mass of what look like clouds but are anything but. That’s SNOW, all right. Sometimes the sun comes out in the middle of these storms, and the locals say that means the devil is beating his wife.

The amazing thing to me about this part of the world is that you can see this stuff coming from so far away. Back in Maryland, you never see things until they’re right on top of you. We had some pretty vicious blizzards there too, lots worse than here, actually, in terms of wind and amounts of snow, but you never could actually see anything. First it would get gray, then little flakes would come down, then bigger ones, then the wind would pick up, and so on. But the only way you could tell it was coming was to turn on the TV!

There’s a good picture of a similar snow event posted at today’s FotoFeed. Since those images update daily, you’ll have to go here to see the one I mean if you’re reading this after Dec. 9th (right now it’s what you’ll see at the link below). This isn’t a blizzard, though, just a snow shower. But it sure does look dramatic.

[This item also posted at FarrFeed]JHFarr.com | FarrFeed | FotoFeed | Zoopilot.com | Zoozone.com