Winston Salem Winter Scenes

Winston Salem Winter Scenes


Winter 2008 - my second winter living in North Carolina. I remember last year's winter...well, sort of. It lasted for one day - one day of snow that is. I recall waking up to a light snowfall that offered about an inch of ground cover and a somewhat precarious drive to work. At the time, my car's "summer" tires were not rated for any sort of snow or other frozen precipitation. I barely got it back up the driveway after I realized that the corner of our street was the farthest I would drive it. Shanti (wife) was in Hawaii at the time enjoying the warm weather. Her vehicle - a rear wheeled Nissan Xterra - could surely handle one inch of snow. I took it for a brief test drive in the neighborhood. Being that I was already running late for work I decided to just extend the test drive to a four mile drive where the office was. Yes, I said it - I used to work 4 miles from where I live.

For a brief moment on that cold weekday morning in 2007, I briefly contemplated calling in sick. After all, neither of our vehicles were truly safe to drive in the snow. Of course, calling in meant that going home would put a camera in my hands and eventually the keys into the ignition for a trip throughout the city in search of photo ops. That could possibly have ended badly as the temptation would certainly have led me to a probable encounter with a ditch, guardrail, or parked car. The winter snowfall was surely going to be around for a few days I thought, so off to work I went. It took maybe a few hours until mid-day when the sun was in full effect. The snow was gone and there wasn't even a chance for me to take an extended photo lunch. I was astonished. Just like that - winter came and went.

Fast forward about 11 months to November of 2007. I got that familiar Email from my editor asking if I had any stock photos from the previous winter's snowfall. She was shopping for a double page spread for the December 2007 issue. Remembering the short day's worth of snow and my precautionary drive to work that previous winter, I painfully keyed my Email response which mentioned something to the effect of me being a stupid Floridian and assuming winter would last a week or so. This year I would not make the same mistake.


Yesterday morning the snow fell. The weather forecasters promised increasing snowfall throughout the day. The day progressed with very little of what fell sticking to the ground. Thoughts of global warming and conversations with locals about how disappointing winters here have been lately lingered in my mind. I took no chances and decided I would head out - frozen roads or not in search of stock photos for an image for a future December 08 or January 09 issue.

I drove most of the city passing through some of the more recognizable landmarks. The snow accumulation was a bit underwhelming and somewhat non-existent where I most needed it to be. I was thrilled to at least get the best of the day's snowfall. On the Wake Forest campus I found students playing a pickup game of soccer on a field dominated with white. The geese at the local golf course had no qualms about waddling through the heavier drifts. Late in the evening, at a park closest to home, I even stopped off to capture a bit of dusk a traces of white on tree limbs and walking trails.

The bitterness of the wind and temperature set in. Mother nature had already decided to go against the knowledgeable weather man and discontinue this year's offering of snow. I wonder what is left of this season and if we will ever get another chance at emulating a northern state. Perhaps a trip about an hour north to Blowing Rock where the Ski Beech Mountain offers slopes will give me the satisfaction of at least enjoying the season for longer than a few hours. For now, I hope you enjoy the scenes I have captured because it may not be until January 2009 until you see them again. Stay warm.