It’s hard to imagine that forty years ago Seattle endured two significant storms a season without too much difficulty. Indeed there were street closures and hellish commutes, but residents and officials worked through it all. There is so little snow these days that I don’t even have a shovel (I left it in Illinois in 1985). My bag of salt, which I found in the basement when I moved in ten years ago is finally gone. The hardware store is sold out. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf In last ten years, since I returned to Seattle there have been perhaps two measurable snows (see January 2007) with the ones this week being the biggest.
With the imact on the area you would think the Big One (earthquake) had hit. The major interstates are down to one or two lanes and frequently on- and off-ramps are closed. Schools closed in Seattle yesterday on the threat of snow only no snow fell. The flakes didn’t start until about 5 a.m. Friday and continued into early afternoon. I measured at least three inches of white stuff. The hinterlands are much worse off with lower tempertures and deeper drifts. Sunday morning the accumulation was almost seven inches.
Our hill is basically only four-wheel drive only so it’s pretty quiet and a great place for the kiddies to try out their sleds and plastic saucers. I discovered a great blog by a meteorologist who has published a book about the weather hearbouts.
If you don’t like the weather here in Seattle, wait a while, it will change.
Here is some driving in our neighborhood