The Many Words for Snow

"Rob McKenna had two hundred and thirty-one different types of rain entered in his little book, and he didn't like any of them. 

....

"Since he had left Denmark the previous afternoon, he had been through types 33 (light pricking drizzle which made the roads slippery), 39 (heavy spotting), 47 to 51 (vertical light drizzle through to sharply slanting light to moderate drizzle freshening), 87 and 88 (two finely distinguished varieties of vertical torrential downpour), 100 (postdownpour squalling, cold), all the sea-storm types between 192 and 213 at once, 123, 124, 126, 127  (mild and intermediate cold gusting, regular and syncopated cab-drumming), 11 (breezy droplets), and now his least favorite of all, 17."

           Douglas Adams -- So Long and Thanks for All The Fish

So, this afternoon I went out for my post Nemo run.  I'm visiting my parents on Martha's Vineyard, so I waited until 2:30 to be sure that the roads had been plowed.  The peculiar joy of running in or after a big snow fall is the variety of surfaces.  On the way to the road, I had to break trail through a foot of fresh snow.  Then on State Road, there was brown slush, white packed snow, wet road, slippery slush and a bit of ice.  I turned onto Music Street, and then Middle Road, where the surface was glorious packed and sanded snow. It was hard, even, and, because of the sand, the traction was good.  I kept stopping to take pictures with my I-phone as the sun broke through the clouds.  Then I turned left down Meeting House Road, a downhill dirt road.  That was a challenge.  The surface varied from hard pack, to frozen mud, to the stuff skiers call death cookies (large pieces of chopped ice).  It was fun to run on, so long as you watched where you were going.  Then back onto State Road for a couple of miles of slippery slush.  What a great run!!  Much better than getting caught out in the rain.