PDP #314: A New West Kind of Winter

There was nothing unusual about last night when I left downtown Vancouver. Sure, it was raining, but that's hardly unusual - I recall wondering if it would also be raining in New Westminster. I got off the SkyTrain at Columbia, climbed the stairs to the exit, and when I got a good look at outside I think my brain needed a moment to reboot. There was snow falling out there.

Granted, it wasn't the sort of snow I remember from Ontario. This stuff was just barely snow, just barely holding together, and the temperature wasn't near low enough to allow any kind of accumulation. So just as much sleet as snow, pretty much. But the reports I heard from elsewhere in New West, as well as Burnaby and Vancouver, are enough to settle the issue in my mind - this was snow, from a certain point of view. I know that it looks like rain in the camera's eye, but it didn't look that way to mine.

Now if only it was also winter - then the headline of this post would be accurate. But there's something special about the First Snow, no matter what form it arrives in.

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