Winter Blues

I think it\’s safe to say with all this cold and snowy weather we\’ve been getting, we\’re all deep in the winter blues and ready for some sunshine and nicer weather. Obviously, it hasn\’t been nearly as cold and snowy here in VA as it has been back home in SD, and I usually do enjoy our mild winters out here. However, this year I have started taking the train to work instead of driving, and I\’ll admit that walking and standing outside for the train every day when it\’s 20 degrees or colder really does start to wear on me! I think living out here on the East coast as made me weak.

One of the things that I’ve always found interesting (and funny) about living out here, is how differently people in VA react to snowy weather compared to people in SD. Talking with my family recently, we all ended up getting snow days or delays due to weather this week, but I can’t help but laugh at how different the outcomes of each “snow storm” were. 

On Wednesday, we had a snow day out here in VA so I did not have to work that day. I told my parents the night before that they had already decided everything would be closed the next day and they thought it was the funniest thing ever – especially since there wasn\’t even a snowflake on the ground yet when they called it. AND because we only really ended up getting maybe 3 inches total. Three inches isn’t even enough for a late start back home in SD! And of course, it was almost 60 degrees the next day, so the snow didn’t even last that long. The last “major snow storm” we got out here was back in mid-January, where we got a total of 5 inches of snow and the governor declared a state of emergency. How much snow would we need in SD for that?? Now, I’m not complaining that I get to have a day off of work every time someone mentions the word snow, but dang! Growing up in South Dakota really put hair on my chest and these people in VA are just too funny. The pictures below show the amount of snow on my way to the train station on Thursday morning and Friday morning:

South Dakota usually gets pounded with a pretty decent amount of snow each year, and this year is no exception. Back when I was home for Christmas, we were getting hit with large amounts of snow, and it hasn’t stopped since. My parents have been getting pounded with snow almost every single week so far in 2019, but South Dakotans are tough: they get up early to plow out their driveways and then it’s off to work/school they go! It takes a pretty hefty amount of snow to close things around there.

I was talking to my sister on Wednesday and told her we had a snow day for a few inches of snow, and she was upset because they got seven inches overnight and she still had to get ready to head off to class!  If we got seven inches out here, we’d be closed for a week, everything would shut down, and people would think the world is ending (only half kidding here). I’ve lived out here for almost six years now, and it still amazes me the difference between the two perspectives of “a lot of snow.”

Looking ahead in the forecast, it seems like we aren’t done getting the fluffy white stuff yet – and SD, I’m sorry, but you’ve got several months of that yet no matter what the groundhog said! But if it\’s any relief, summer isn\’t too far away and we\’ll all be sweating our butts off before we know it. It\’s making us all crazy, but hang in there! The winter blues will soon be a thing of the past.

Until Next Time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger