To Snow or Not To Snow

One of the things which caused us trepidation about taking a job in North Dakota was the weather.  Stories abound about the frigid cold and one of the sweatshirts up here says "41 below keeps out the riff raff".  We were not looking forward to experiencing this.

When we arrived we met some locals through church who told us stories about the year they had record snowfalls in early October.  More dread and another trip to the store to buy more winter clothing.

This year has been very unusual, from all reports.  The summer was gorgeous.  We only had a few hot days and nothing like the heat from our hometown, Diamondhead, MS.  The fall has been beautiful with earlier sunsets and the changing colors.  The best part, however, has been the temperature.  The days fluctuate from the high 40's to the low 60's.  Absolutely perfect!

The last few weeks has brought a distinctive change in the weather.  Around the middle of October you could see the sky patterns changing, and could feel a difference in the air.  Sure enough we had several storms push through the end of October-but still no snow.

It is interesting watching the weather reports up here because everyone is dreading the first snowfall-for fear of what is coming next.  In southern Mississippi everyone gets excited if we are expecting snow. 

The difference-south Mississippi 'MIGHT' get one tiny snowfall a year, but most often not.  In North Dakota when the snow starts winter does not let up for about 5 months.

I am writing this on Oct. 24 and we had a chance of snow flurries last night but it did not happen.  So these two travelers from south Mississippi are still looking forward to our first North Dakota snowfall!!