Snow

     A snowfall often starts gently, almost apologetically.  But soon the snow falls heavier and heavier and the ground quickly becomes white.  That snow cover changes the appearance of the whole landscape.  Sometimes the flakes fall straight down slowly, but often they're blown sideways by wind.  It's said no two snow flakes are alike.  Nature is amazing in its diversity.  But a few inches of snow is enough to be pretty.  Any more than that is a real nuisance, a problem, even dangerous to many people. 
     Still, falling snow, particularly large, slowly-dropping flakes, is pretty to see, especially when seen before the dark background of trees.  A snowfall doesn't happen every day, and so each one is something different and a beautiful happening in nature.  And snow is perishable and fleeting, disappearing the next time the sun shines and the weather warms.
     Snow, while it lasts, has its own beauties and beautifies the landscape like nothing else can.   Snow on the ground highlights many natural objects that we didn't see before, such as young trees in the woods and white-tailed deer.  And snow on the ground enhances the beauties of trees in woods and older suburbs, and the greens, grays and browns of all vegetation, wherever it is. 
     Snow, especially heavy, wet snow, also collects in trees, shrubbery and tall weeds and grasses, adding more beauty to the landscape.  Fallen snow outlines the tops of limbs and twigs, creating innumerable and lovely studies in dark and white.
     Moonlight on snow on the ground turns the night into a different world, like a silvery fairyland.  The landscape is almost as bright as day, but without the colors.  To see all that is to experience something unique.  Trees and other objects stand out against the snow when it is illuminated by moonlight, which really is reflected sunlight, from the sun to the moon to Earth.  And this is a good time to look for deer, cottontail rabbits and other nocturnal animals.  
     A snow cover protects grounding-hugging plants and invertebrates in the soil from air temperatures that are even colder than the snow.  The snow also acts as a blanket that traps the slight warmth coming up from the ground.   
     Snow covers present certain benefits to vertebrate wildlife, too.  For example, here in the mid-Atlantic States, field mice can move about freely under snow without being seen by predators.  The mice chew tunnels through the grass under the snow cover to aid in their travels for food and mates.  But when the snow melts, those tunnels are as exposed as foot paths and the mice have to slip under other cover to avoid predation. 
     The weight of snow on the needled boughs of coniferous trees pushes those limbs down closer together.  The combination of the snow and packed needles creates wind breaks that shelter squirrels and a variety of birds in the trees from cold, winter wind.
     Many animals, however, have a hard time getting food when snow is on the ground.  Predatory hawks, owls, foxes and other species can't see mice under the snow, or hear them as easily.  Seed-eating birds have difficulty getting seeds, unless that food is on vegetation still above the snow.  And grazers of grass have a hard time getting that food under the snow. 
     Snow is pretty and enhances the beauties of the landscape.  But it is a hazard to people and many kinds of wildlife.  We have to take the good with the bad, as they say.