Unlike the Texas Panhandle where wagon trains once braved snow drifts and residents still see snow with some regularity, East Texans get to experience snow, real snow, once every few years.
Oh, the odd flake or two will slowly drift and almost instantly turn to moisture as it hits the brown winter grasses almost every winter.
Then there are those winters that allow East Texans to enjoy an extra season. Instead of having the normal spring, summer and fall that skips winter and then slips ever so slowly into spring again, we actually get some snow that stays on the ground for a few days.
When that happens it reminds northerners why they left the north and it also brings back childhood memories that mix with the beauty of snow covered branches to provide picturesque hours.
Early 2010 was just that type of snow. It came in huge flakes and thanks to the near freezing temperatures that hovered around 32 degrees, the snow stuck to everything, bringing down branches, cutting off electricity for thousands and at the same time providing some spectacular sites.
High school students took the opportunities provided by the temporary closure of schools to take parting snow ball fights, longhorn cattle and buffalo willingly shared some feed put out by a rancher, and in a world made black and white, the rustic colors of winter grasses stood out in dramatic fashion.
Even grazing horses, sorting through the snow for grass, added some color of their own to the scenery.