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It's cold outside and as I write this there is freezing rain or sleet (what is the difference again?) coming down outside. According to my weather app and Ron Roberts on KFYO, there is still a chance of snow/sleet/ice/frozen stuff falling this evening and throughout the night.

That probably means that Wednesday morning will be a repeat of Tuesday morning with car accidents and road closures. Though nothing is for certain and you should listen to KFYO in the morning for the latest.

All of that brings me to the picture I posted above. To the average person, this is an empty parking lot. But to me, it is so much more on days like today.

I grew up in Grand Prairie, right in the middle of the DFW metroplex. Winter weather days were a thing, but we didn't get them often. When we did get a snow day from school it was great because, well, what kid doesn't love a day out of school? But when I got to a certain age it wasn't just a day to hang out at the house, it was a day to test myself and my truck.

It started before I got my drivers license. My dad would take me out to an empty parking lot on a snow/ice day to show me how to drive his car on snow. It was a great learning experience that continued when I got my first car, then my first truck. When it would snow or ice over, I'd test my skills and see how my vehicle would do on snow or ice.

As I got older in my teenage years whenever it would snow, I'd still go out to a parking lot, sometimes with friends, and drive around in the snow. Not really for a learning experience, but for fun and because we were dumb teenagers.

While an empty parking lot isn't the same as a street, it can help you know you vehicle and help you understand how to drive on snow or ice. Hopefully people still do this. Not everyone can stay home when the roads are bad and it's good to learn in a relatively safe environment. Granted, the above picture isn't a parking lot full of snow or packed with ice, the more we get the more fun and challenging it becomes, but it still works. Trust me, I tried.

So while you may see an empty parking lot on a snowy day. I see it as a learning experience and think about all the good memories.

Drive safely.

Lubbock's Near-Historic 2015 Blizzard