Viewfinder: Snow, on the Ground and in the Trees, in Sammamish Before the Heavy Downfall

I've always liked weather stories.

For some reason, they fascinate me. Perhaps, it's because Mother Nature shows us, standing here on Earth, just how powerful she can be. Technology, engineering and spreadsheets are definite pluses in the world.

But there's only so much we can do on some days.

So, on Wednesday before the big downfall began that evening, I took my basic digital camera and visited places in Sammamish. Some were new. Some were old.

Snow was on my mind.

By now, on Thursday, there's much more of the white stuff in the places that I visited on Wednesday. Some might be staying in place. Some might be drifting in the wind or falling to the ground. That happens, you know.

Some photos that I took were near Lake Sammamish. One is of the sky and the clouds. The other, the one of the side of a hill, is taken looking across Lake Sammamish.

Some places were new for me to visit in Sammamish. A side road here, another side road there. If you saw someone standing in a black jacket with a basic digital camera looking at the trees on Wednesday, well, that might have been me.

When I'm in Sammamish, I try and visit new places as often as I can.

On one side road, it was interesting to see the sun hit trees for only a minute or two. Then, clouds covered up the sun and the brightness faded back to gray.

I never know what Mother Nature will do exactly. I don't think any of us do. That's why National Weather Service staff members always remind me and other journalists that what they give are forecasts - ones subject to change.

That's why I like getting to places and leaving them as safely as possible. So, by Wednesday afternoon, I had expected that snow was going to fall.

With digital images on my camera's memory card, I decided to leave the Plateau before sliding around on icy or snowy streets became possible.

On the main weather story, there are snow photographs from Thursday. If you have some from Thursday, feel free to send them to me at brad.wong@patch.com.

I hope everyone is staying warm and safe on this snowy and more-quiet-than-usual day. Of course, I hope everyone is having fun while the snow is still with us.

On the Eastside, we can lead busy lives. It's good to have moments of silence. I suppose, in this case, we can thank Mother Nature for reminding us to slow down.