Ahhh, snow at night...

Some say it's a beautiful thing, and I must admit, there is a certain charm.

Seeing snow fall out of the night sky takes one back to thoughts of a snow day from school. It coats all things in a coat of white, evoking images of purity and hope. When it melts, things will live again.

All sounds seem muffled, and the world seems to take on an image of total peace.

It blankets, and when it's falling it seems to cover all things.

Looking at it fall, while it is lit by lights of all colors makes one think of Christmas, snuggling up next to the fireplace (if you own one) and sipping cocoa with marshmallows that look just like the snow.

Of course, snowfall at night only brings these things to your mind.

The reality is different.

The snow falls, and causes "white out" conditions in some cases. It falls at such a rate that you cannot see too far ahead of where you are, and lighting it from your position is no better than trying to find your way in fog with a light. It simply reflects all light back at you.

But, unless you are in a white-out, it's not too bad. Sure, you want to slow down a little if you are driving, to allow for a little more reaction time, but not too bad in a typical snowfall.

But, as with anything, there are those who take it too far.

I was coming home in some snow last night. The speed limit is 35 mph. The person two cars in front of me has his hazard lights blinking, and is going less than 20 mph.

The snow was just starting to stick to the grass, and any cars that have been sitting long enough to reach ambient temperature, but wasn't sticking (and with this particular snow fall, never did) to the pavement. The pavement was, at most, a little damp, as if from a drizzle.

And this person was going very slowly. A trip on a part of the road that normally takes me a minute and a half, took almost 5 minutes, because in addition to driving slowly, this person was swerving all over the road.

Now, I could see snow falling in my headlights, as well as this guy's. As we got to a small town, with street lights, visibility dropped a little bit, because the street lights reflected a little more light than just our headlights.

The guy sped up.

The one place in the trip he should have slowed down a bit, he sped up, because suddenly he had a little more light. All I can say about the way this guy sped up is thank goodness no kids were out and crossing the street.

Once past the town, we we back to our cruising "speed".

Now, I understand that some people don't like driving at night.

I also get that some don't like driving in the snow.

But, for the love of all that's holy, if a combination of these factors will paralyze you behind the wheel, and make your common sense skip out of the window, please stay off the roads in the mountains in the winter.

Snow. It's pretty.

And annoying. Shoveling, clearing off cars, and driving with people who don't understand how to drive in it.

It's enough to make a person consider moving to Jamaica.

But then I couldn't pelt my kids with snowballs, so I guess on balance, I'll stay where I am, and gripe about it.

I just wish that the other drivers wouldn't help the snow drive me to insanity.