Snow at the Beach?

It had already been raining for more than a day when my wife and I started following the winter weather forecast yesterday with both excitement and concern.

They were calling for snow at the beach -- our Sunday destination.

We woke up Sunday morning to the sound of a steady rain outside our house and puddles throughout neighborhood yards. No snow -- yet.

I had to go down to the conference at the beach this week, regardless -- it was already paid for and plus I'm on the board. So as my wife, who had taken the three conference days off for her own vacation time, debated whether or not she was going to go, I finished packing and loaded up the car.

OK, decision time --- are you going or not?

She really wanted to see snow. Even as time to leave the house neared, they were predicting heavy snow for our region of the state and some down at the beach.

So we hop in the trusty Honda and head off in the rain to pick up the rental car. We spent up until the Florence area in on-and-off rain. But as we neared Myrtle Beach we saw the sky and clouds turning a friendly color and the sun begin to poke out.

Apparently there is several inches of snow on the ground back home. And none here. In the past few hours, several hundred miles away, I've had to call TV stations back home and log on to websites to update them with the fact the college I work at is closed tomorrow.

We're still waiting to see whether that snow is going to hit down here. They say there is still a slight chance of precipitation tomorrow here.

She's on her computer right now, sighing and giving the TV a look of disgust as they talk about all the snow we got back home.

But as I sit here on the balcony blogging and looking out at the ocean, feeling the crisp winter wind, and listening to and watching the waves roll in -- there's a chill in the air. Slivers of moonlight are casting down through the slightly overcast sky onto the waves which seem to be reflecting back a message of "bring on that snow, buddy. We'll just wash it away."

It's not your typical coastal night. It's a weird feeling. Of course there's no precipitation coming down right now in any form, but I just can't help but wonder what snow at the beach would be like.

Looks like either way you cut it, we have the option of either making a snowman or a sandman tomorrow.