Saturday, January 13, 2007

How the Other Half Shivers

We just got home from Seattle proper, and now I see why so many people don't seem to be treating the snow and ice as a very bid deal. It turns out that large swaths of lower (as in elevation) Seattle don't really have much in the way of accumulation. Actually, downtown Seattle seems to have virtually NO accumulation worth mentioning. The combination of weather patters, de-icing agents, and lots of traffic means that all they have is a lot of cold air. Even portions of the east side seem pretty moderate compared to us up here in the foothills (okay, I'm not sure if we are "officially" foothills, but we definitely have the elevation).

Our local roads are still COVERED in ice, and we still have at least three inches of fluffy white snow still in our back yard. Just walking around our neighborhood requires intense concentration or extra equipment or both. The latest weather predictions are saying more snow possible, and no real warming until Tuesday or Wednesday. Plus, get this, they are predicting a NEW ROUND OF SNOW for Friday! I think this year we will just take January and February as our vacation months instead of July and August. That whole "summer" vacation thing is just an arbitrary tradition anyway.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember watching people, in 2004, trying to sled down the hill by Mathias' and my apt. when there was only one measly inch of snow. End tables, kayaks, trash can lids - all manner of things were utilized as sledding vehicles.

I also remember seeing people scrape snow and frost off their cars' windshields with their credit/debit cards. I'd always thought that was an urban legend about Seattle, but no, that action is real.