Is the Lehigh Valley in a 'Snow Hole?'

OK, I'll admit that I like snow. It's fun to anticipate its arrival, it's fun to watch it fall and accumulate on the ground, it's fun to take photos of it and in it, and snow has a way of brightening up what is otherwise a very bleak winter landscape in this part of the country. It is not fun to drive in it in a Honda Civic, but that's one of the reasons I work from home.

My penchant for crystalline H20 falling from the sky is why this has been kind of a disappointing winter. I'm sure some of my fellow snow-lovers will agree.

Yes, the total snowfall for the area is slightly above the year-to-date average at this point, so it's not as if we haven't seen any snow. And yes, on Jan. 26 many locations in the Lehigh Valley did receive almost a foot of snow. But that total was modest in comparison with points further east, where up to several feet of powder fell. New York City in particular has been at the epicenter of several monster, paralyzing, "tell-your-grandkids-about-it"-type snowstorms this winter season. The results have been chaos, mayhem and scandal related to mismanaged snow removal and clean-up...but hey, this is New York we're talking about--the city that can survive anything. Epic snow-mageddon? Fuggedaboutit!

This week, the Lehigh Valley was on the southern fringe of Sunday night's snowfall, which left parts of the Poconos and northern New Jersey buried underneath as much as 10 inches of white stuff. Lehigh Valley International Airport recorded an underwhelming 2.2 inches.

A scant 24 hours later, another storm moved just south of the Valley, dumping up to a half foot of snow on Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, the Philadelphia suburbs and southern New Jersey, while Allentown recorded a meager .2 inches (barely enough to notice).

Many local residents are doubtless breathing a sigh of relief following all these near-misses, and thinking, "Whew! We've dodged another bullet!" But I'm starting to wonder if the "snow gods" are angry at the Lehigh Valley. What other explanation can there be for the shades of bright green and yellow which seem to dance around our corner of the world on the radar screen as each snowstorm passes by?

I have even found myself wondering if the local topography has something to do with the lack of snow. Could both South and Blue mountains be to blame? Have these seemingly innocuous piles of earth conspired to block the snow somehow?

It's more likely that the measley snowfall totals this year are simply the result of a remarkably fickle weather pattern, but that's not a very satisying explanation for snow-thusiasts like me. Nor is a report that San Francisco might receive its first snowfall in 35 years later this week. I'm happy for the City by the Bay--I really am--but when they're getting the powder and east central Pennsylvania isn't, one has to wonder if the world's gone a little mad.

Perhaps March will be kinder to local snow-lovers.

If you need to find me, I'll be on top of the mountain, doing a snow-dance.