Feb. 5, 1976  was a remarkable day. It snowed. Perhaps it snowed in Syracuse, NY or Sioux Falls, SD or even Winnemucca NV but what was extraordinary was that it snowed in San Jose, CA.  Living in San Jose, one had to travel to see snow. You went to the snow; the snow never came to you. The snow was an elusive, magical weather system that was like a Vanderbilt or a Rockefeller: rarely in your presence but darn cold when it was.

On Feb. 5,  it snowed early that morning. I was 15 years old and had never seen snow falling. Running outside, dressed only in my cotton pajamas, I tried to do the cliché of catching a snow- flake on my tongue.  It melted immediately. Neighbors were coming out of their houses and looking up to the sky. Was the snow melting away our sins? No but it sure was cool to see a very thin blanket of snow being created on our lawns and cars. The snow- throw was beautiful and made my suburban neighbor hood of Willow Glen seem dazzling and enchanting.  Most of us had never seen the snow and we certainly had never seen it in our own backyards.

Falling for less than an hour, about 50 minutes, we received a therapist’s hour of snow.  We would never know the joy of a snow day, the joy of not being able to go to school because of the snow. We could only enjoy the superficial beauty of snowflakes and try to hold on to the ice as it melted quickly away.

Reluctantly I went back into the house, and got ready for school. I drank my fresh squeezed orange juice that my mother had made. We had oranges, lemons, apples, pomegranates, and pineapple guava plants growing in our backyard but we never had snow. We felt deprived. Temperate weather is pleasant enough to live in but you can’t build snow forts in 70 degrees. 

Driving to school with my neighbor Sandy, we fantasized of the snow things we would be able to do after school; snow- ball fights, building snowmen and sled riding. We saw kids trying to make snow angels. There wasn’t nearly enough snow to do anything, let alone make an angelic design. The children were flailing around on the ground as if they had caught on fire and were rolling to put it out.  It was an odd sight to behold. Everyone  tried to make the most of our snow and hang on to it as long as possible. 

Getting to school, we noticed that  it was abnormally quiet. There was no car horn honking, no yelling and no  sound of fights. There was only the soft sound of” Peter Frampton Live” being played on eight track, even the Parking Lot Gang had reverence for the snow.

By second period, all evidence of the snowfall had disappeared. When people talked about the snow “day” they said there had been 3 inches of snow. The official observation was that there had only been 0.5 inches of snow. 

Sometime later,  I went with friends to Yosemite and brought home some snow in an Igloo cooler. We had our snow- ball fight. The snow was imported and transported but it allowed us to enjoy our snow hour once again.