Snow nostalgia

Big Frank has been thinking about snow lately. On the drive back from Dickinson to Spokane Big Frank actually went through blizzard conditions in the mountains between Helena and Missoula. It prompted memories of his youth.

Has global warming really affected the amount of snow, the intensity of cold, and the future memories of children? The pictures on the right reflect the memories that I have on snow as a child. Obviously Big Frank does not remember the blizzard of 09 in New York. But he does remember the blizzard of 66 in North Dakota. It buried telephone poles - and entire trains. The snow piles in the streets of Dickinson were monstrously high. Big Frank has similar memories of sledding over piles of snow, and constantly putting on "overshoes" - a word that is a mystery to kids today.

Is the fact that kids today never wear coats, go to school in the winter in shorts, and don't even own a pair of gloves mean anything other than fashion statements and personal preferences? When Big Frank was a kid coats were worn - with hats! There was no stigma attached to a well clothed teenager - is this because it was so much colder then? Big Frank doesn't think so. Look at the following 121 year history of snowfall in Minneapolis http://climate.umn.edu/text/historical/mspsnow.txt . There is no precipitous drop in snow as of recent years. What does this mean? Are we prisoners of our youth - were the snow drifts so large because we were so small, or what? Big Frank doesn't know.