Hat Snow

In my region of the Rocky Mountains, we see every type of snow imaginable: powder, graupel, crust, slush, and so forth. On one occasion, I witnessed thundersnow, where thunder rumbled mightily during a sudden snowsquall that befell the foothills of the Elkhorn Mountains. Yesterday, we received a healthy dose of what I call “hat snow.”

Hat snow, as the name implies, drops a white hat on virtually every freestanding thing in sight. I find this type of snow especially lovely. Hat snow dresses the entire landscape, from head to toe, in white. It softens all hard edges. I am sharing a photograph of hat snow collected on some of last year’s dead-standing flowers just off my back deck.

Hat Snow on Last Summer’s Flowers

—Mitchell Hegman