What's with the weather?

I know, I know. Weather is about the most boring (and neutral) topic I could pick. Only...just maybe...not. At least, not this year. My husband and I just made a long drive across the deserts of northern Nevada to visit friends and family along the Wasatch Front (the Rocky Mountains in Utah). The scenery surprised us. Greatly!

I've visited these locations in the months between November and March and have found the high mountains covered in snow. That's not surprising during ski season in one of the more active ski locations in the world. I did not expect the same sight in June. June! Some of the ski runs were still open and welcoming skiers. (If you don't believe me, I won't blame you. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't been there to see the deep snows myself.)

Perhaps even more shocking, the drive across northern Nevada was ... wait for it ... beautiful! I'm shocked even to see myself write that, but it was true. We passed fields where cattle grazed knee-deep in green grass while snow-covered mountains hovered in the background. Some animals drank from streams created by seasonal run-off. In one field, two antelope joined them.

Other places boasted wildflowers I have seldom seen in this dry high desert, celebrations in purple, white, and yellow. The scenes were pastoral, paint-worthy, and yes, beautiful. Unfortunately, we didn't stop long enough to get pictures there.

Meteorology is not my thing. I listen to what the broadcast weather reporters have to say and wonder what it will really mean for carrying an umbrella or wearing a jacket and I stay glued to the Weather Channel when tornadic storms threaten my kids in Oklahoma. That's about the best I do with weather.


Given that, I don't begin to understand the processes that gave us snow in June and a beautiful trip across Nevada. I don't understand them, but I can certainly appreciate them. I did and I do!