A little distraction while those members who crave it, wait for it, and those who can't stand the sight of it!

I think it's fair to say that when the possibility of snow is imminent passions in this and other weather forums reach heights that other forms of weather can only hope to aspire to amongst their followers.

So what is about snow that either does or doesn't excite you.....................

It all depends.

I love watching it falling, and always get excited seeing it first start to stick, then build depth. Background noise seems deadened, especially when we get those snowfalls with little wind. I love the way it changes the way everything looks, adding a magical, white veneer to the ordinary and mundane. People - even those who proclaim a hatred of snow - tend to have a jolliness about them, and community spirit can build.

When it's just a couple/few inches, that's the extent of why I love it.

But, when the snow falls deeper, it's different. I love the chaos it brings, the sense that nature, after all, is bigger than us, that despite all the gadgetry and convenience stuff we sanitise our lives with, nature can still render us powerless. I'd love a truly catastrophic snowfall, one that leads to a state of emergency, that would be talked about for years to come in an even more vivid way than 1947 or 62/3 has been. Half a metre of level snow at least, then a freeze for a couple/few weeks.

Not a lot to add to that I think, put rather well Saint

I think Saint wrapped a lot of my feelings up, very well.
The expectation is also nearly as good as the event.(watching waiting watching again)
Living in a city has it own charms for night snow,when we get that soft orange glow about the place and as Saint said the deadening of noise.Cars hum and feet crump.It's also beautiful to look up into the sky and watch big flakes falling when its calm.

Sitting by the nice open fire with a small glass, looking out the window is another cosy aspect.

Driving snow in a howling wind producing bizzard conditions doesn't happen so frequently here, but when it does it's a magnificient demonstration of the forces of weather.

When I was aged between say 5 - 18 I always wanted snow and couldn't get enough of it. I used to sit up all ngiht watching it fall and then at first light I would be outside in the fresh show to make use of it before it got messed up by all of the other kids.

If there was a surprise snowfall you could always tell before you opened the curtains as everything was more quiet. I would hear the cars crunching slowly on the snow as they struggled to get out and the room seemed brighter.

As a kid I was always gutted when the thaw came and things reverted back to normal.

I would say that it was when I left home for University and got my first car that things changed. My priorities than became all about getting somewhere to study, work or for a night out with a girl. Then I used to wake up and think **** hell. It was ***ing cold because as students we had bills to pay for the first time and didn't want to spend much heating the place when it could go on drink and petrol. I would trudge out to the car and scrape the ice and dig the car out for the first time and after a few years of doing this I got sick of it.

It got to the point where I would look out the windown at a new fall of snow and not see the excitement of it but the fact that is a day or two it will be a grey, dog piss  / turd coloured mess that turns in to leathal slushy ice overnight after thawing and then re freezing. The car will be covered in a shitty salty mess that will need blasting off, oh the joy! At that time I was also dating an exchange student from Australia who HATED the snow and that person became my wife

These days I like to go to the snow rather than the snow come to me, snow on my terms. We go up to the Snowy Mountains most winters for a snow hit but when finished I am happy to leave knowing that I don't have to struggle through a winter of it all again.

I think Martin explained that quite well that those conditions would suit the majority on here. I would add the lamp post watching and also depending on which type of snow on a wind free night when stood at the back door having a breath of fresh air (FAG) listening to the slight hiss of the snow fall as it settles on to the ground. There are many other factors to a question well raised. I pass the baton on

Quite. Just like sex in fact

Talking of which, a woman was quoted as saying, "Snow is like a man, you never know how long its going to last, and you never know how many inches you are going to get".

You can't say that...Retron will crucify you ! 

Nope, I only crucified you because you seemed to assume that as everyone ages or gets more responsibilities they get less keen on snow - which isn't the case, of course.

For me, snow is the epitome of winter. Down here you can only get snow which lies around for days on end without going slushy for a few short weeks per year and those weeks are my favourite time of year.

Snow turns the world white, it makes it quiet (muffles sound), light (reflects street lights/moonlight) and makes the familiar seem quite different. It encourages community spirit (last year some of us worked together to clear sheet ice from our road). It's also fun. Watching snow falling is mesmerising, more than can be said of rain!

Yes, driving in it can be a pain but it's not really that hard - the main problem is dealing with other drivers who don't know the various tricks and techniques to getting around in it!

And if nothing else, for quite a few of us it also gives the opportunity for a "snow day", that blissful thing whereby one's workplace is closed and you get to spend an unexpected day at home. I like those.

Does make for excellent photography opportunities . . . even though everyone will take Instagram-type photos of it and stick them on Facebook so the "originailty" goes out of it all (I'll just have to be even more creative).

Like everyone says, I like the way it all comes down and has the effect of muffling and slowing things down. The only drawback is having to keep the home warm as much as I can for my elderly mother = higher energy bills.

But, anything is better than suffering that restless night being able to hear stormy winds threatening to rip my roof off.

Almost everyone I ever speak to about the weather ends up telling me, however bad it might be, that "at least we haven't got snow, so we can still get about .... "    

I like snow because my last great unfulfilled ambition before I die is to see a proper snow drift in England one last time .....  and if we get heavy snow there's always that tiny tiny thiny chance that this time it might just happen.  

(I've not seen a snowdrift in England since I left Ipswich in 1995)

But I must admit that I find snow - however deep - without blue skies a waste of time 'cos it's no good for photos!

Ah yes, why do we love snow. 

I have to be honest I not nearly as giddy as i used to be.  During my early teeens - prior to the internet, and indeed when only one TV in my house had Ceefax the venetian blinds would be twitching every 20 seconds at the mention of snow in the werather forecast.  Looking at the lamp in the street.

Infact my eyes would become stained with amber i would stare at the lamp that much.  Whats worse - this period was all through the 90's when it hardly snowed  - which i think made the situation even more extreme for me.

When it does fall now, all im interested in how much we will get.  How extreme will it be.

It transforms the feeling outside... you are ever so slightly taller, walking is more of a challenge, the feel of it under your shoe (Once the snow has been round a few days - i like to hunt out un spoiled snow to stand on and look at my foot prints)

Its almost as if I want it to snow, but dont really know what to do when it gets here.

I think I know what you mean, there.

Incidentally, last winter was the first time in my life I've looked out in a morning after a new fall of snow and thought "Not sure I can be arsed going out in this". This was, I think, in late March, the 4th decent (5cm+) snowfall of the winter. My eldest daughter loves the snow and sledging and sure enough she wanted to go to the nearby hill for some sledging. The little one decided not to bother. When we got there, there were only about 10 others there, as opposed to as many as 40-50 on previous occassions.

It is just beautiful.

Exactly.

Last year was a good example where it snowed every friday by mine between feb and March.  though amounts were neglible at times.  It was lovely to watch but unlike past times, i just couldnt be bothered to go out in it, and instead took a few photos from my front room and revisited the window every hour or so to review the snow level.

Just love seeing a heavy snowfall with large feathery flakes. For one thing, it's great to watch, and another, it usually sticks to most surfaces even if the ground is not that cold.

Why do I love snow?No- why am I fanatical about snow?

It all started at the age of 10 (1945) when I helped take observations for a  primary school weather station.A yaer later I started making my own observations.The first winter I covered was 1956 which had a very cold February.My folks had some freinds who lived in a caravan in a farm a couple of miles out of my home town of Buton -on -Trent.Fearing the friends might be snowed in we walked through the fields amongst deep snow drifts to take some provisions.

That trip gave me the thrill and excitement of an unusual event which brought normal life grinding to a halt. I was also struck by the sheer beauty of snow- both snow falling and snow lying on the landscape and trees -snow piling int drifts and withsunshine and blue sky the blue tinge opalescence of the shadows on snow.After that first event, in winter, I became an avid watcher of the BBC weather forecast and the Sunday one week Forecast for Farmers,(the forerunner of Country File)

But what really turned me into a lifelong snowy was the great winter of 62/63.I still have my records.But the memories are more vivd- school cross country running in deep snow,blowing snow and blizzard conditions,TV footage of food drops on Dartmoor and nearly three months of continual cold.Although it was spoken of as 1 in 200 year event I thought I would see lots of winters like that!

So snow has been a constant winter preoccupation.And as it rarely turned up -if the mountain won't come to Mohammed then find snow.Henc elots of skiing holidays,lots of roaring up and down the country when blocked  roads were mentined.

Also going withe snow is alove of low temeratures and record cold.To satisfy this I went to Greenland in early March a couple of years ago and experienced -40c,which is  identical  to fahrenheit figure 0f -40F.

Now the danger is that if you soend too much time poring over model chrts you can miss snow events.Last year in January the south didn't do brilliantly forsnow so got a train up to the Pennines got out at Garsdale and walked back on amooralnd track to Dent.Briliant!

So at  the age of 68 my love for snow is undiminished.If anything does happen and deep white stuff occurs I shall eoff on a snow hunt!

Love the story but i cant figure out how old you were.  if you were 10 in 45 wouldnt that make you 79?

I think Saints first post sums it up for me.