Snow?

Much of the country has had awful weather this past week. Although forecasts for Pittsburgh have been worrisome—mainly because of predictions of frozen rain with ice buildup—little precipitation of any kind has actually materialized. In fact, frozen rain was predicted for today, but that prediction, too, seems as though it is about to be proven wrong.

Some of the snow there has been has been rather unusual. The “flakes” have been tiny round balls, rather like very small Styrofoam pellets. I think these balls have really been snow, rather than ice or sleet or whatever, though I can’t be sure.

This morning, there was but a dusting of these strange particles, so I decided to take a picture of them. The picture below—click on it for a larger version—is the view looking across a stone step about 10½ inches wide. When there is more of this stuff and it piles up, it feels like snow, not ice.