NATCHEZ — Tyranny Timmons didn’t have quite enough snow Friday morning to make a snowman, so the 6-year old made something even better — a snow castle.

Using her creative imagination and a little help from her dad, Kenneth, the McLaurin Elementary School kindergartner constructed a castle out of the snow that littered the Ridgewood Road front yard.

More than an inch of snow was reported in the Miss-Lou Thursday evening, and cold and windy temperatures left much of it on the ground Friday morning, causing school closures throughout the area.

“I’ve never ever seen snow here,” Tyranny said after taking a break inside from her project. “I looked outside this morning and saw the snow, and I was happy.”

After her mother, Melissa, told Tyranny school had been cancelled Friday, it wasn’t long before the family was outside playing in the snow.

“It hasn’t snowed like this in a while,” Melissa said. “The last time was probably three or four years ago, but it wasn’t this nice, thick snow. It was all mushy and didn’t stick to anything.”

Tyranny threw on her coat, gloves, earmuffs, scarf and hat and was outside ready to kick off her snow day Friday morning.

Kenneth’s first suggestion to Tyranny was to gather up as much snow as possible and attempt to build a snowman.

The plan changed slightly after a few minutes and scoops of snow.

“There wasn’t enough snow to build a snowman, so I decided to make a castle,” Tyranny said. “My daddy made the big part, and I made the little part.”

As the snow castle started to take shape, Tyranny decided to step up the construction and added a piece of wood for a drawbridge and pinecones for cannons.

The heavy artillery was necessary to keep out the leaf men, fictional soldiers Tyranny saw on the children’s movie, “Epic.”

“Some of the pinecones fell off, but we put them back up and held them with sticks,” Tyranny said. “That should keep them out.”

The snow day was one Tyranny said she wouldn’t soon forget, and also something she would like to experience again in Natchez.

“I hope it snows again,” Tyranny said. “But with more snow next time.”

Vidalia resident Brook Orcutt and her boyfriend, Devonta Culbert, saw snow for the first time in the Miss-Lou Thursday and didn’t pass up the opportunity to take advantage of the winter wonderland.

“I’ve always seen on TV and stuff, people building snowmen, but I never had a chance to,” Orcutt said. “I finally got a chance (Thursday) night.”

Orcutt, 18, and Culbert filled up as much snow as they could gather into their trashcan and flipped it over to create the base of the snowman.

The couple then began scrounging for any items they could find to decorate the snowy creature.

“I didn’t have any carrots and a banana wouldn’t fit, so I put a butter knife up there for the nose,” Orcutt said. “I broke a necklace I had and used two different beads for the eyes.

“Then, we broke the wheels off the trashcan to make him some earmuffs.”

After a scarf and some glasses were added, the snowman was complete, but still nameless.

“We ended up naming him ‘Spike’ because he had a bunch of leaves and sticks coming out of him,” Orcutt said. “I really hope it snows again, because we were all out there just enjoying the snow.”