i was planning on writing about how one of the perks of living in minnesota is that you acquire a very nuanced vocabulary about a multitude of different kinds of snow. and i was going to talk about what it looks like when the temps are warm, and hover right around freezing, and the flakes are big and wet and cling to the branches in big fat globs. and, in contrast, when it is exceptionally cold, how there is no moisture in the air and the snow is hard and round like pellets.  and how this photo shows, without words,  that we have been having some very cold temps here in the north.  but then i googled “types of snow” and found that wikipedia lists no less than 35 (!) different kinds of snow. damn. still an amateur…

buckthorn with frost

saint paul, minnesota