This is by Cynthia MacGregor and was posted on the puny listserv.

Once upun a time in a town far away, there was a prediction of heavy snow overnight, but all they got was a light dusting of the stuff. During the night, however, the mattress factory caught fire, and so on top of the rather minor quantity of snow that fell across town, there were also burnt bits of mattress that had escaped into the air and settled down on the surface of snow all over. And so, you see, when the townsfolk woke up, expecting to see drifts and drifts and drifts, instead what they saw was the flurry with the singe on top.