February 2022 - Southern Tales of Ice and Snow

History will look back on winter of 2022 and a deeply cold, harsh one.  Winter seems usually confined to the northern states where snow and cold are quite common. But 2022 saw the cold fronts sweeping across the nation almost is a southeastern path that coated even parts of South Carolina and Georgia with bits of snow. 

As a northern raised man who migrated south to Nashville from northeast Ohio, I was the arrogant driver who was unafraid of a little Tennessee snow. No sir, I was laughing at those natives that were petrified to drive on that white dusted streets. With pride on full display, I left my house one January morning, leaving tire tracks in the snow powder that covered my driveway. I pulled to the pavement of my country road and pointed my car toward town. 

The country road to my home was originally an old farm road that was wound between the fields. This road also had 2 “s curves” that defined these early farmsteads. As I approached one of these curves, I turned the steering wheel only to feel my little car continue on a strait path and trajectory to an old tree that also helped define the acreage. Northern drivers know that lightly pumping the brake is the only way to manage a skid but that tree was approaching faster than my brain could comprehend. 

My front wheel drive left the pavement and with a sudden jolt gripped the grassy shoulder.  I quickly made a path around the tree performing a “lawn job” before getting back on the road. I had mixed emotions having been blessed to miss the tree but also messing up the yard around the tree.  Going a bit slower, I swallowed hard the lump in my throat and thanked God for keeping me from hitting that tree. 

I am southern born but yankee bred, but learned a lesson. Southern drivers know when roads are warm and snow falls it melts. (I can hear the chuckles and shaking of heads at the obvious). But consider, as the temperature drops that melted snow freezes and the new, fluffy snow on top. When you drive on fresh southern snow roads, you can expect those little icy patches. Just watch carefully when there are curves and trees. 

I wonder what lawn damage my big 4 wheel drive might have created?