I moved to the Deep South last February, and since then I have seen temperatures in the 100’s, rainfall from a tropical storm, and as a lifelong weather junkie this has been great. But nothing compares to Tuesday.

My apologies to those who aren’t fans of cold weather and disdain everything ice and snow, but being from Ohio, Tuesday was my kind of day.

I also want to apologize to those who spent hours stuck in their cars in Birmingham or Tuscaloosa.

Tuesday brought ice, sleet, snow and frigid temperatures to Selma, the likes of which the region rarely sees. But oh, how I love it.

Growing up in central Ohio, snow days were my favorite holidays.

There was the anticipation the night before after hearing the weatherman say the potential was there for five to six inches of snow, and then the glorious moment in the morning when my parents would wake me up to let me know the dream was in fact reality.

It didn’t matter if my friends and I built a snowman, went sledding, had a snowball fight, or if I just stayed home with mom and my sisters, the day had already been made.

The idea that Mother Nature was on my side couldn’t be topped.

As I’ve grown up, that love of all things cold has not faded.

In college, my bad habit of sleeping with the window open in December and January got me in trouble as several inches of snow accumulated on and around my bed. It wasn’t solely the fact that there was snow in my room that my R.A. took issue with, but mainly the fact that as that snow melted it created an undesirably wet in the room below mine.

At my first real job out of college — not the unpaid internship or the job selling driveway sealer… over the phone — my co-workers noticed early that I was always more than willing to trudge out in to the ice and snow if it meant getting the photo that could steal the front page.

Once, a reporter and I heard about a wreck on the interstate near where we worked in Northwest Ohio, and so we headed out. Over an inch of ice had left the roads treacherous, and the 6 inches of snow on top of that made it beyond stupid for anyone to drive. Good thing I was stupid at that time, because the photo looked great across the top of page one.

The forecast for this weekend and in to next week includes temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s, meaning my favorite time of the year is nearly over, but thanks for the memories, Nature.

A year in to my grand southern experiment I’m still adjusting to the high temperatures and humidity that hover over the region during the 10-month summer. But I really can’t complain, I got to enjoy my week or two of winter so I should be good for a while.