Portland Snow Storm

Just before the end of the calendar year, Portland got an unexpected snow storm. It accumulated quickly into about 3-4 inches of snow, and while it only lasted for about 18 hours, it was long enough to get out and snap some photos. It started snowing a couple of hours before dark, so my daylight shots show it just starting to collect on the trees in the yard:

The true beauty was after dark when it had stopped snowing and everyone had made it safely home (the afternoon had nightmarish traffic - neither Portland nor Portland drivers are ever prepared for the snow). By the evening, though everything was white and most folks were hunkered down inside, making for a magical walk around the local neighborhoods:

Since it was close to freezing the snow as fairly wet, and it piled up anywhere it was able. Some branches that I wouldn't have expected to hold much snow were piled up in every way imaginable:

Most everyone still had their Christmas lights on, too, which made for some neat effects as the lights shone through the snow. The white lights lit up the snow:

While the colored lights cast unexpected glows across whole yards:

I was a little sad it didn't last a bit longer, but I'm glad we at least got some snow this year. (You may remember last year we had an unusually long arctic blast, which made traveling to Portland tough, great bird-watching at the feeders, and a white Christmas!) Before the snow arrived I had some fun playing around with my camera and taking pictures of all the holiday lights, so I'll feature some of my abstract shots in my next post.