Now those of you who live in areas where you lots of snow will find it slightly ridiculous that a city like Seattle could be closed down by a few inches of snow. But sadly, it is true. Generally once a year, we get a good snow storm (though last year we didn't) and it pretty much brings everything to a halt, even though they prepare for it as much as you can. Why? you might ask. Well because it only happens once a year why would you go to the expense of an expensive fleet of snow removal equipment--enough for the greater Seattle area (Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, etc...). You wouldn't, though they did finally concede that salt might not be a bad idea despite the "environmental concerns". So this year's snowmageedon happened this week. This first picture is from in back of our house where the resident racoon made his way through the snow.
We did not have school on Monday as it was Martin Luther King Jr day and we were supposed to out doing good deeds and marching in the street in honor of Dr. King. (We stayed home and my friend came for Scrabble). The weather forecast was very sketchy as to when or if snow would actually come. So, on Tuesday we had a two hour delayed start of school--just to be safe. Shortly after school began it started to snow--at least in the north end of Seattle where our school is. Parents began to freak out and our phone was ringing off the hook. Just as the first group of kids went to lunch the District decided we would have a two-hour early dismissal--giving us one hour to get it all together. Let's just say the phone never stopped ringing. The kids left at 12:20 and by about 1:20 it had stopped snowing. Next picture is our front porch.
The weather forecaster originally had declared that the biggest snow would come on Tuesday and by Wednesday it would be rain. Later it became Wednesday could see the biggest one-day snowfall since the 50s. Around 4pm on Tuesday came the call there would be no school on Wednesday. Looking out my window I wondered why--there was nothing in our area. I knew outside areas had been hit pretty hard so I could see why they cancelled their school days. At 2:30am when I got up to go to the bathroom it was still the same and no snow was falling. By time Dennis left for work at 6:30 he said there might be an inch of snow. By time I got up (much later) there was 3 to 4 inches and it was still stacking up. Enough to justify the school closure--whew! (Picture of the garbage can to show the actual snowfall--though this is from today so it has shrunk)
And yes, 3-4 inches is enough to lock down Seattle. They only plow a few major major roadways and leave all the side streets as is. Feel free to blaze a trail in your 4 wheel drive if you have one (and dare be on the street with other idiots blazing a trail!) My friend walked over from her house and we spent the day playing Scrabble while our kids went across the street to sled on the hill at the park. Can't beat that. Still the forecasters were saying rain would be coming by Thursday when the tempurature was supposed to be in the upper 30s. Thursday came along and brought freezing rain (which is an interesting phenomenon if you care to read about it elsewhere). Dennis stayed home, lit a fire in the fireplace, my friend and kids came again to repeat Wednesday and the snow never did turn into rain. Speculation was ripe for whether school would be out again today, Friday, since rain was forecast again. (I think this next picture is funny because the wheelbarrow looks like it is smiling--which I didn't notice till I downloaded the picture)
You guessed it. School was cancelled again today. It is raining, but it will take quite awhile for it to wash away the snow. People are still sledding across the street--getting every bit of enjoyment out of our one week of snow as they can. All these pictures are from today. We probably got 4-5 inches on Wednesday, another inch or two on Thursday and now we are just waiting for it to become a memory.
That's another reason to like Seattle. You get one week of snow--enough to just kind of enjoy it and then it is gone. It doesn't hang around for months and months turning ugly and it only takes on storm to get you out of school for a day or two. You can't beat that--though the "snowmaggedon" aspect from the media standpoint is a tad ridiculous. It is a nice break from the rest of our winter weather which is dark, dull, grey and rainy.
We did not have school on Monday as it was Martin Luther King Jr day and we were supposed to out doing good deeds and marching in the street in honor of Dr. King. (We stayed home and my friend came for Scrabble). The weather forecast was very sketchy as to when or if snow would actually come. So, on Tuesday we had a two hour delayed start of school--just to be safe. Shortly after school began it started to snow--at least in the north end of Seattle where our school is. Parents began to freak out and our phone was ringing off the hook. Just as the first group of kids went to lunch the District decided we would have a two-hour early dismissal--giving us one hour to get it all together. Let's just say the phone never stopped ringing. The kids left at 12:20 and by about 1:20 it had stopped snowing. Next picture is our front porch.
The weather forecaster originally had declared that the biggest snow would come on Tuesday and by Wednesday it would be rain. Later it became Wednesday could see the biggest one-day snowfall since the 50s. Around 4pm on Tuesday came the call there would be no school on Wednesday. Looking out my window I wondered why--there was nothing in our area. I knew outside areas had been hit pretty hard so I could see why they cancelled their school days. At 2:30am when I got up to go to the bathroom it was still the same and no snow was falling. By time Dennis left for work at 6:30 he said there might be an inch of snow. By time I got up (much later) there was 3 to 4 inches and it was still stacking up. Enough to justify the school closure--whew! (Picture of the garbage can to show the actual snowfall--though this is from today so it has shrunk)
And yes, 3-4 inches is enough to lock down Seattle. They only plow a few major major roadways and leave all the side streets as is. Feel free to blaze a trail in your 4 wheel drive if you have one (and dare be on the street with other idiots blazing a trail!) My friend walked over from her house and we spent the day playing Scrabble while our kids went across the street to sled on the hill at the park. Can't beat that. Still the forecasters were saying rain would be coming by Thursday when the tempurature was supposed to be in the upper 30s. Thursday came along and brought freezing rain (which is an interesting phenomenon if you care to read about it elsewhere). Dennis stayed home, lit a fire in the fireplace, my friend and kids came again to repeat Wednesday and the snow never did turn into rain. Speculation was ripe for whether school would be out again today, Friday, since rain was forecast again. (I think this next picture is funny because the wheelbarrow looks like it is smiling--which I didn't notice till I downloaded the picture)
You guessed it. School was cancelled again today. It is raining, but it will take quite awhile for it to wash away the snow. People are still sledding across the street--getting every bit of enjoyment out of our one week of snow as they can. All these pictures are from today. We probably got 4-5 inches on Wednesday, another inch or two on Thursday and now we are just waiting for it to become a memory.
That's another reason to like Seattle. You get one week of snow--enough to just kind of enjoy it and then it is gone. It doesn't hang around for months and months turning ugly and it only takes on storm to get you out of school for a day or two. You can't beat that--though the "snowmaggedon" aspect from the media standpoint is a tad ridiculous. It is a nice break from the rest of our winter weather which is dark, dull, grey and rainy.
4 comments:
I thought about you all up there in Seattle with this storm...kinda fun I would think? You got more than we did in Boise! I snowed on Wednesday and the rest of the week has been rain...which means all the snow is gone :( Oh, well...the ski hill opened so that is what we wanted.
BTW: Grandpa Vaden looked so good when he got to our house after spending the holidays with you! He told us all about it...he really enjoyed it. You are a good daughter and you have a nice family:)
Well, I wish I had been at your house this week. Sounds like a lot more fun than what I was doing here. We were given the review of district snowday policy as "they" were predicting massive snowfall here - which we really do need.
Yeah...we got a skiff. not even enough to really measure. We got a bit of rain, but nothing to measure either.
As far as snow removal on side streets. We DO have a LOT of snow removal equipment here, but they still don't plow the side streets when we actually DO get snow...
Glad you had a fun week :0)
I've been wondering about you up there.
Sounds like a fun week of scrabble and sledding. Who could ask for more?
Well.... as long as you had food supplies and good books anyway.
We didn't get any inches down here... surprise surprise.
(:
It must have been a wonderland for a day or so.
Wow. That is more snow than we have gotten around here. Pretty impressive.
Our schools did not close for Martin Luther Kind day. They rock around here, so we didn't even get one day off. sad
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