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Blog: Our ‘Snow Chaser’ Mission To Find The White Stuff, Snow Photos

March 2, 2009

NorthEscambia.com took our coverage all the way to Montgomery Sunday afternoon on a “Snow Chaser” mission, and we’ve posted a photo gallery of our trip.

If you’ve ever lived north of Birmingham, you might as well not read beyond this point, because you are probably going to laugh.

My children have never seen real snow. Born in Florida, raised in Florida and being less than 16 years old, they are not old enough to remember the “Big Snow of 1993″ that we had here in North Escambia.

We read the forecast with great anticipation Saturday night when the National Weather Service mentioned snow in our forecast here across the northern part of Florida. But by Sunday morning, the word “snow” was gone from the forecast. Looking at the temperatures and radar, we knew that snow was not going to happen in our part of the world.

But looking at the radar, we saw that snow was headed for Montgomery. But would it stick? We were not sure. I watched live video cameras on a Montgomery TV station’s web site. Not sticking. Keep checking back over the next hour or so. Hmm…the ground in Montgomery was turning white. There it was, just 140 short miles from our house was that snow. The mere mention of snow makes my two girls giddy with excitement. Here was the chance to be super dad.

“Girls…bundle up! We are headed to Montgomery to see snow!” I said. The screams of excitement were deafening. Better than Christmas morning.

If you have ever seen “Storm Chasers” on the Discovery Channel, that was my family Sunday morning. We were prepared. We had the laptop out in the car (pictured left), watching the weather radar as we headed up I-65 at a speed we won’t mention.

Near Georgiana, Ala., (the birthplace of Hank Williams, Jr., in case you didn’t know) we hit S-N-O-W. This was not that little stare to see a flake kind of snow, but what any Florida resident would call a flurry. It was coming down at an incredible rate. The kids were very impressed. Mom and dad were impressed. We don’t have photos to share, because the camera was in the trunk. Sorry.

We stopped at the next exit, Greenville, and the kids go to play in the falling snow for the first time in their lives. It was better than Disney World.

While there, I failed as a reporter. I was so excited taking pictures of the kids playing in the snow, I only took one photo of the snowfall without the kids. That’s the one I’ve shared at the top of the page.

The snow in Greenville was not sticking to anything, so we decided to head further north. Just a couple of miles north of Greenville, the snow was one the ground and stuck to the windward side of trees. Very pretty. We’ve posted photos in the gallery linked at the bottom of the page. Some of the photos are little blurry because they were taken at 80 mph.

We stopped at the next exit, Ft. Deposit (home of Priester’s Pecans), where the girls had a chance to make real snowballs and toss them at each other. They were amazed.

Based upon the radar images we were watching in the car, we tried to get to the east side of Montgomery before it stopped. We did not know about the 8.5 foot wide lanes and the road construction on I-65. Oops. We hoping to find something like the picture to the left. Roy Tarbutton, who lives in Maryland but has a home in Walnut Hill, sent us this picture this morning of the five inches of snow on his Maryland deck. He’s expecting more snow today, delaying a planned trip to Walnut Hill.

While Montgomery saw a good bit of snow on the ground prior to our arrival, we just managed to see a lot of grassy areas with snow and many neighborhoods where rooftops were totally white. By the time we caught up with our snowstorm we were chasing on the east side of Montgomery, there were just a few flurries.

We did manage to scrape snow off another person’s car in a parking lot and make a few more snowballs.

While our photos are not as impressive as the ones you no doubt saw on the TV news of Alabama’s snowfall, I just wanted to share our little NorthEscambia.com “Snow Tracker” mission. There’s something about snow that just brings out the kid in all of us as we watch in amazement.

As for when the “Big Snow of 1993″ will repeat here in Florida, we don’t know. But our fingers are crossed….

Click here for photo gallery from our trip.

Pictured top: Snow falling in Greenville, Ala. Sunday. Pictured top middle: Our “Storm Chasers” setup, watching the radar in the car as the snow falls outside on I-65 south of Montgomery. Pictured bottom middle: Roy Tarbutton, who lives in Maryland but has a home in Walnut Hill, sent us this picture this morning of the five inches of snow on his Maryland deck Pictured below: Snow cover the side of I-65 near Ft. Deposit, Ala. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

11 Responses to “Blog: Our ‘Snow Chaser’ Mission To Find The White Stuff, Snow Photos”

D.R. on April 1st, 2009 6:41 pm

THAT LOOKS AAAWWWSSSOOOMMMEEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Janice on March 28th, 2009 11:10 pm

WAY TO GO, SUPER DAD!!!!!!
D.R. on March 17th, 2009 8:42 pm

C O O L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ashley on March 2nd, 2009 5:28 pm

My family did the same thing! My parents decided that since the grandkids had asked Santa for snow this year that when they heard there would be snow, we loaded up. Papa, Grammy, Aunt Ashley (to two kids, Momma to the other 2) and all 4 grandkids… We went to Calloway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga. We usually go there twice a year; once during the summer and once for the Christmas lights so who says we can’t go at the drop of a hat… We named it the 2009 Diamond’s Great Snow Quest…. It was awesome and unbelievable. When we called Calloway Gardens to make reservations, they told us that the snow probably wouldn’t stick… boy did we show that lady! We got stuck in the snow and then unstuck and still played for hours and hours yesterday and this morning before heading back to Jay, Florida!! We had an amazing time, kids and adults!!!! I will try to upload some of our pictures onto this site.
Williard Purell on March 2nd, 2009 4:42 pm

It is just a great blessing to hear that simple family events that are not planned were taken not for grant it, but as an opportunity as a wonderful memory. Spur of the moment fun. WOW! Just hearing about it makes me smile. Thanks for sharing.
Al on March 2nd, 2009 2:05 pm

Good times!!!!
A couple of years ago we took my nephews to Tenn to see snow, of course there was none. We drove up into the mountains and there in the higher elevation, in the shade, was snow drifted into a little rocky gorge. We played for hours on that 1/4 acre of snow HAHAHA
Lynn on March 2nd, 2009 9:17 am

I was born and raised in Missouri, so I’ve seen my share of snow over the years. But my fondest childhood memory is looking out the window at Christmas time, when all the houses were lit up with those (antique) large outside lights and they glistened in the freshly fallen snow! You are indeed a “super dad” for taking your girls to experience the fun of playing in the snow. Of course, the snow brings out the kid in all of us, so I’m sure you and your wife had a great time also!!
Rhonda Hassebrock Gehman on March 2nd, 2009 9:04 am

You should have come on to Pelham, AL!
I woke up @ 3:00 am and looked out the windom to pleasantly see my husband’s truck COVERED in snow! I woke my kids up…to look out the window…and we all went back to bed. I woke up again @ 6:00 & to my southern eyes, it looked like a blizzard outside. I managed to go back to bed, but @ 8:00 I made everyone get out of bed…and we hit the snow! We had about 4-5 inches in our backyard and we built 2 decent size snowmen…and threw plenty of snowballs! We have lived up here for almost 15 years, and although we ususally do get a dusting each year, this was the MOST we have enjoyed.
bmb on March 2nd, 2009 8:29 am

Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as this can make such a wonderful family memory. Thanks for sharing and passing on something to you children that will be etched in their minds forever. Take from a daughter who had a father that did alot of adventure related excusions, the expression that goes something like “be ye content in whatever circumstances you land in, or something like that,” is one of the greatest gifts you will ever bestow on them. It doesn’t take a rollercoaster ride to entertain every time, the light in their eyes proved this again. Best vacations are the unplanned ones, that lead to nowhere and end up in paradise. Thanks again for sharing this private moment. And yeah, it is a pretty cool parenting!!!
Lawson on March 2nd, 2009 6:36 am

Jumping in the car and driving all the way to Montgomery just so your kids could see snow? Now that, is a great dad!!
Deni Deron on March 2nd, 2009 5:53 am

I remember the Big Snow of 93′…I was hoping for the same thing. I enjoyed your blog. Sounds like you guys had fun.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Blog, News