Either way, the point is that it feels good to be outside during a snow storm. Just as blankets wrap and protect us through the night, in its own way snow does the same. Rapid snow accumulation is always associated with cloud cover and sometimes with slightly rising temperatures. Even the snow itself acts like down feathers trapping Dead Air Spaces between intricate crystalline structures.
Those dead air spaces not only insulate us from cold winter temperatures but also dampen the noisy world that surrounds us. Snow effects sound in three ways: first, fewer people venture from the comforts of their homes, second the snow seperates rubber from griding away on sand, gravel and asphault, third snow sepia tones our auditory experience.
As with the mechanical sounds of man, snow also muffles natural sounds. A child's voice, a friends laughter, a simple hello, a crow's caw, even a furry companions whoof shifts in dynamic meaning when heard through falling snow. Think about an auditory artist adding a sepia layer, a blurring filter, or an auditory vignetting. Voices heard in falling snow drift into our ears laden heavy with auditory nostalgia.
The scrape of a metal snow shovel across cement and the sudden jolt when the blade finds a crack, carries as much winter time nostalgia as a cup of hot chocolate.
Don't you love winter?
Warren Miller said over and over that everyone needs to take one year off from their life just so they can be a ski bum. I think I need to take one year off from my life and move from Boise so that I can experience a "real" winter with snow all around from December through Feb.
One day Warren.
More after the jump...
