Chester! What are you doing here?

Definition of snow:

From Wikipedia: 

“Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft, white, and fluffy structure, unless subjected to external pressure. Snowflakes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Types that fall in the form of a ball due to melting and refreezing, rather than a flake, are known as hail, ice pellets or snow grains.”

Well, that is pretty simple, right?  Well, maybe not as Connecticut and the northeast get plummeted with “Chester” as he is called.  Does Chester know that he is a type of low-pressure system or as some would call an extra tropical cyclone?  Probably not, but if he did, he would know that his clouds and patterns of precipitation are shaped around a comma head or shaped clouds and when he travels near warm water bodies, that evaporation helps “feed” his appetite for cyclonic action and keep him alive so to speak.  When his backside is pushed by the flow of the cold air his down pouring of snow can dump quite a bit – such as happens in the great lakes.  In mountain areas it is the upslope that makes him produce heavy snow and depending on the terrain, he can do havoc on roadways or do justice to ski slopes depending on what your pleasure is. 

This precipitation when on the grounds surface could be in either powdery form or very heavy if the temperature rises and falls adding the granular function and expansion of refreezing.  If the wind is just right and very strong, we could categorize Chester as a blizzard when snowdrifts are found and blown snow causes havoc for roads, buildings and people. 

In some parts of the world, too much snow can be dangerous creating avalanches but in other parts of the world, the snowfall is needed to replenish rivers and waterways upon melting. 

For our immediate concerns, we being the social beings that we are, are concerned about travel, job destination, food and shelter and the natural flow of our lives.  But, when storms such as Chester decided to come visit us, we stop for a moment, observe, and then reflect that maybe we just aren’t as powerful and mighty as we think, as the temperatures, lack of vision during blowing snow and shoveling will attest to. 

So, is Chester giving you some challenges this week?  Well, if you have a moment, try to take a break between shoveling, sit back and look at the beauty around all the possible challenges.  This too shall pass.  Chester will be a memory by the end of the week and we hope that he hasn’t created power outages, traffic problems and any other bad things to people.  But if he has, we will remember him in a negative way too and not just for his positive elements of nature that he is sure to deliver. 

I definitely know that I am glad I picked up some new gloves around Christmas and appreciate and respect Chester for what he is.