First snow

The weather out here on the East End is always interesting. We can never be sure what's going to happen, regardless of what they're saying on the NYC weather stations. For reasons having to do with the ocean being all around us, what happens here is pretty hard to predict.

Last Tuesday morning I left the house at 7am to go do my volunteer work at Southampton Hospital. We were having a little show shower but the roads were clean and nothing was sticking. I wasn't worried about driving and had checked the weather channel before I left home. It was smooth sailing until I hit Water Mill. Climbing the hill to the Hess Station there I was surprised to see the traffic moving slowly so early in the morning. By the afternoon the traffic light by the plaza there often makes for slow going, but this was really early for that. As I applied my brakes to slow down I quickly realized what the problem was - there was a sheet of ice on the road.

The closer I got to Southampton the heavier it snowed. It was like I was driving into the arctic or something. It took me about 15 minutes to get to the hospital from there and I was relieved to arrive safely. When I came home two hours later I learned that there never was much of a storm in East Hampton but you'd never believe it if you'd seen what was happening only 20 miles west.

It was the first snow and it was very pretty. But it was fleeting and gone by the time I got home. And I was glad not to have to drive in it any more. Last year on this day we had a major snow storm. I wouldn't mind an inch or two but I'll pass on an anniversary repeat, thank you!