A cold arctic storm blew down over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and with it brought an instant layer of snow. I’ve lived up here on and off and this is the first time I can recall that it actually started snowing without first raining. Usually the snow comes in after a good rain storm in this part of California. The snow was light and fluffy made up of tiny snowflakes all the way through making a find powder that blew across the roads and fell from the trees much the way it had landed. It was a good reminder that the granite monoliths you see in the image were carved by ice as it flowed down the valley and is responsible for the towering cliffs that rise nearly 3000 feet or more.