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YourHub.com \\ Antelope Valley \\ Stories \\ Creative Writing \\ Short Stories

A snowstorm changed my life

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Contributed by: Donald Boggs on 8/25/2006

I was a 12-year-old boy growing up in Burbank going through the normal daily routine of school, play, homework, then bedtime. I was interested in girls and sports but something happened during a weather event which affected my early life goals.

I was always interested in science in school and one day my teacher mentioned weather studies which sounded quite mundane but could be of some interest to me.

I started to study weather fronts, high and low pressure areas, and an assortment of weather symbols.

On a cold January afternoon with clouds increasing from the southwest and an air temperature of 36 degrees, I mentioned to my parents that snow could fall at home during the night. Laughter filled the room but I still had the strong feeling that snow would fall.

I was raised in an area that had recorded little, if any, snowfall so such an event would be wonderous to me. On the morning of Jan. 10, 1949 I awoke to 4 inches of snowfall which completely covered the entire area with a blanket of white.

I was so amazed by this scene that I frequented my local library and researched weather especially memorable snowstorms in Southern California.
Several years later, after finishing one year at Glendale Junior College, I noticed an advertisement in the local paper offering employment with the Weather Bureau (now National Weather Service).

An interview with the Chief Meteorologist at Burbank Airport provided the setting which allowed me to complete nearly 38 years of weather service to the public and finally retirement in early 1994.

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