Plant 2 bells ring, are you listening?

In the desert, snow is glistening.

And if you go to the nuclear site north of Richland tonight, you'll find the Tri-Cities' only winter wonderland.

It's a new twist on an old song, but it's no joke.

Hanford workers, some undoubtedly still smarting from Old Man Winter depriving the Mid-Columbia of a white Christmas, found themselves driving into a frosty island of winter delights Tuesday morning.

It seems the emissions that form the steamy plume from Energy Northwest's nuclear Plant No. 2 began freezing overnight, falling like snow.

That's not an unusual phenomenon. But with light winds steadily blowing from the north, the snow was concentrated in a strip about a mile long, creating a stark contrast with what was left uncovered.

"All of a sudden, there's this one bright spot,"said Energy Northwest spokesman Don McManman.

The 3 inches that fell were enough to force plant workers to plow the roads leading to the facility, about 10 miles north of Richland.

And for all you kids out there, the popular Christmas carol rings true. In the desert you 'can' build a snowman. That's because the snow is radiation free. The steam comes from a plant water system that cools equipment treating the water that actually runs through the reactor.

In other words, the water that eventually turned to steam and then snow never came in contact with radiation. When it is recycled in the plant's cooling towers, some is given off as steam.

"That plant puts a lot of moisture into the air,"McManman explained.

And when it gets cold enough it turns the site at Hanford into a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird. Now if only they could do something about those radioactive fruit flies.