Snow, Bad Weather Hit New Orleans

New Orleans -- It does not happen often, but when it does, everyone acts like little kids. What am I talking about? SNOW - yes SNOW. Some people don't bat an eye to it. But here in the "Big Easy" snow only occurs every once in a while. The last snowfall came in 2004. Prior to that, it was in 1989.

I woke my son up this morning by telling him that it was snowing outside. To which, I received the normal teenage response of "whatever". He apparently did not believe me. I went outside, balled up enough snow to make a snowball and walked into his room. When I finally got him to open his eyes, he jumped up. He was dressed quicker than I have ever seen him get dressed. He rushed outside to begin playing in the snow.

Snow is such an oddity here in the Louisiana. Some schools and colleges closed down for the day. Roads were shut down. Government buildings were closed for the day. Snowmen were build in front yards. Kids ran the streets with open mouths catching snowflakes on their tongue. Snowball fights broke out. All you could see were people smiling, laughing and taken aback with the snow flakes falling from the sky !

There is this tremendous excitement that you can even see with most adults. The only thing I can compare it to is Disney World. You can't help but be happy and have a smile on your face while at Disney World. The same thing happens when we see snow in the south.

We are not accustom to snow in New Orleans. Radio DJ's were joking saying it was like a blizzard. Northerners who live in New Orleans were calling in saying this was not a blizzard, but to us it seemed like one. The snow flakes were falling quickly and were falling thickly. Even in the snowfall of 1989, the snow was thin, very watery and barely coated the ground. This time the snow was 3-5 inches thick. You could actually make a snowman without having mud and grass mixed in with the snow.

My 12-year-old has seen snow here in New Orleans only twice. I am 19 years older than him and I have only seen it three times. It is a rare occurrence.

We walked out into the backyard and found his trampoline covered in snow. The snow was so thick, we were able to write his name in the snow.

When we got into our car to start on our way to school, my windshield wipers would not move. The snow on my windshield was so thick, the wipers were not able to work. My son got out of the car and proceeded to push the snow off of the windshield.

Sitting inside my car, I could not figure out why everything seemed so much darker than usual in my car. Then it hit me. I realized all of my windows were coated with snow. It made the inside of my car very dark.

Traffic signs were covered in snow. Exit signs were not visible because of the snow accumulated on the sign. While driving on my way to my job in downtown New Orleans, I passed under my exit sign. As I went under it, there was a huge thump. Part of the snow started to melt. The snow gathered at the bottom of the exit sign. Once it got too heavy it dropped off in large balls of ice. Just as I was under the sign, a large chunk of snow dropped off the sign onto my windshield. I could just laugh.

Everyone is in such a good mood. You can't help be smile and enjoy your day. It is truly a rare experience for us southerners that have lived here our whole life.

Some claim that the snow is a great sign for our football team, the New Orleans Saints. The Saints will play the Chicago Bears tonight. The prediction around the city is that since it snowed in New Orleans, the Saints will win.

Perhaps it will snow again this winter. I highly doubt it. The shortest time difference between snow falling in New Orleans was four years (2004,2008). I can only hope that it snows again before another four year passes. But if not, I have plenty of memories and pictures to last me until next time.