Four-letter word, starts with "s"

That'd be "snow," which is falling and sticking around for the first time since last April. It started last night, but the occasional flake is coming down today. It isn't accumulating in great huge heaps – just a little white here and there – but it isn't simply vanishing on its way down, either. This marks the beginning of winter 2009-2010, whatever the silly solar calendar might say about when that starts.