Snow Day

Last Friday I had an experience, which, despite having grown up in Pennsylvania, with liberal snowfall a reasonably common occurrence, I had not yet run into: leaving work early due to snow.
I was at work in Birmingham, having driven up that morning as usual, and there was a buzz about the office in a way there rarely is. I could hear people chatting excitedly in the hallway and hear snippets of conversation about "...it's snowing..." and "...home early..." Being my Northern self, inured to such things as a little snowfall, I paid little attention to the hubbub, although it was mildly interesting to me as well: steady snowfall in Alabama for most any duration is a very unusual sight. Come lunch time, the snow was actually falling fairly thickly, in big, fluffy, wet flakes, collecting in a glaze on the top decks of parking garages, street-side trees, and parked cars. The streets themselves remained predominately clear, a combination of the ground not being quite cold enough to sustain collection and a steady stream of traffic through the city. As I had heard before, not a few people were speaking of leaving for home early, and some urged me to leave as well since my drive was the longest of anyone in the office that day.
Initially, I brushed the idea aside, like so much snow off my windshield, but as they continued reasoning and I pondered the situation a little more, I realized the prudence in the suggestions: as accustomed as I may be to dealing with snowy roadways, 1) Alabamians are not, 2) Alabama does not have the equipment nor resources to clear the roads of snow, and 3) the temperature was dropping, which would eventually cause the now-melting snow, without a melting agent like salt, to freeze and create potentially disastrous driving conditions. As such, I ate a quick lunch, finished the project on which I had been working through the morning, and then popped my head into the manager's door to let her know I would be heading home.
The drive home was different, to be sure: it was the middle of the day, instead of five o'clock or a little later, and so I could see much more of my surroundings. The snow fell at varying speeds and thicknesses throughout the drive, and the traffic responded accordingly. One accident had occurred a little short of halfway home, but although traffic was slowed a little, the wreck did not seem too serious and there were already emergency personnel on the scene.
Most impressively though, the snow had, as in downtown, collected on the trees along the interstate, completely altering the landscape. For those that have not seen a snow-covered treeline before, it is challenging to describe the transformation that snow causes upon its fall. I wanted to capture a photograph--as I have so many times in scenery and views similarly beautiful--but a picture could hardly do, especially one taken with my wee camera phone.