The end is near...
Seattle is expecting snow,
expect up to 1-3" overnight...
(yup I mean inches)
Laugh Now!
To understand our panic you need to know a bit about our topography and climate: Seattle is on the rainy side of a rain shadow. Our city is next to a temperate rainforest called the (HOH Rainforest). We are surrounded by mountains, so nothing is flat and we have large bodies of water, which keep the temperature from dropping into the solid freezing zone.
This makes our snow very wet, temps seldom stay below freezing. The cold comes in we hit freezing, if we get the moisture and it snows, the next day it jumps back up to 33 or 34, just enough to thaw a bit then it drops down to 31 overnight.
What this means is that:
1. We get lots of ice
2. The ground is highly shaded (meaning the ice hangs around like a bad cold)
3. Our freezing weather is not that cold, barely 32 (meaning the ice spreads as it melts and refreezes)
4. We don't use big chemicals or lots of sand to keep the roads clear because it impacts the Salmon spawning streams in our area
SO....the news Headline
"Winter Storm Warning is in effect"
At this point the office is reminding everyone of its "severe weather" plan. The schools are watching for the snow fall and determining if they are going to delay the school start or if they will close for the day. The kids actually wake up early to watch the news and look for their school to show a closing on the news ticker tape.
I've been laughed at more than once for the reaction that my city has to snow and I can understand why you might laugh too.
When we hear snow... We Panic.
- We panic because snow does not happen here every year.
- We panic because our community doesn't have the experience driving in it
- We panic because the city is not set up to manage it well or quickly.
Gettting snow in the low lands means as you are driving down the road you will be asking yourself.... Is that water? Is that ice? or Is that snow?
If you can call it snow "it's really more like slush" leaving the roads 'snowy' wet until the first night when they then freeze creating knarly driving conditions.
BAD COMBO = Inexperienced drivers + ice on steep curvy roads + limited city management.
It spells 'DISASTER' in the minds of a Seattlite.
It is the 'Snow-pocolypse'
- People rush to the stores
- We stock up on gas
- We review our emergency preparedness
We go years between having snow in the city. When we do our city invariably 'shuts down'. Is it even a fraction of what other parts of the country get.... nope.
Does it send us into a spiral of panic... yup!
In the forcast this week... Snow.
In the mountains.
Rain for the city
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