The government made it snow

Xinhua, the state-run media, says that the snow Beijing has experienced over the past three days is artificially-induced. Beijing is in its worst drought in 38 years and it hasn't had natural precipitation since October 24. Last Thursday's rain was also artificially-induced with silver iodide to help ease the drought.

There's 2" of snow on the ground and it's fun to see the kids running around in it and throwing snowballs. There are big balls of snow on the track where kids attempted snowmen during their lunch period. It doesn't snow very often or with great results in Beijing and as long as I'm not riding my bike I like looking at it out my window. I'm thankful I don't have to shovel it!

Here's a picture of Chinese work groups sweeping the snow with their brooms. I've seen these brooms used for sweeping garbage, leaves, water, and now, snow.