Snow is....

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In looking through notes to write my Harbingers post, I realized I had never posted these thoughts which I had written to send to my friends working for the Peace Corps in Togo, Africa. While home for Christmas, they mentioned that the local people they met couldn't fathom winter, cold, and snow. Well, that I can help with.

Some things are always true about snow: It is crystallized water. It is always cold. It falls from the sky.

Snow coats the branches of trees like frosting on a cake.

Snow is thick and slippery like walking on butter.

When it is very cold, snow squeaks as though you have your own personal squirrel announcing evey step.

Sometimes, snow is very dry. It falls like powder. The flakes are like grains of sugar. They sparkle in the sunlight. This kind of snow is easy to shovel. It is light and airy, and when you throw it, it fills the air with sparkly fairy dust.

Other times, snow is wet and heavy. Shoveling it is like moving piles of cold, white cow dung. A long sidewalk or driveway full of this snow will make your back and shoulders ache. Though, you can press this snow between your hands to make a ball, and when you throw it, it flies through the air and smacks into the next thing it meets.

Snow is soft. When you jump into deep snow, you land in the clouds.

What have I missed? What is your metaphor to explain snow to someone who has never seen it?