(no subject)

[lagilman]

7 inches of rain so far this month in the Seattle area.

Normal, I am told, would be closer to 2" for the first two weeks of December.

Considering how much of the state went up in flames this summer, I'm not going to complain about getting extra rain, so long as it's also creating snowpack in the mountains (so far, so good). But I keep thinking - if the temperature dropped, that would be about 5 feet of snow.

I miss snow.

I don't know that I miss it that much. But I do miss it.

Comments

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Luckily, that doesn't happen often in the Pacific Northwest lowlands....

[lagilman]

I'd like a few inches of the white stuff, maybe, though. Over a weekend.

[ckd]

Snow should stay where it's wanted: at the ski resorts.

(Especially after my experience with the last Boston winter. Urgh.)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

A friend here in Glastonbury HAS GOT SNOWDROPS OUT in the garden.

This is insane. I can't remember such a mild winter. We've been fairly dry but Cumbria copped it for floods this time.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Here's a thing to remember. The idea of snow is lovely--when you're in the flatlands. But in Seattle, with all its hills, it shuts the whole region down at half an inch and becomes dangerous very quickly. I miss the snow, too; don't get me wrong. But snow is a different thing here than it is back east.

[lagilman]

Yes, I am very aware of that. Every time I wistfully mention I miss snow, half a dozen people are sure to tell me that people out here are incapable of handling it, in great detail.

If an inch of snow on the weekend sends the entire city into a shutdown, though, I humbly suggest they start thinking about what the climate's going to be like in 5 more years. I realize Seattle isn't good at forward planning, but....

addendum: I grew up in an area equally as hilly as Seattle, with less mass transit. Hills themselves aren't the deal-breaker.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

We've all been humbly suggesting if for years now. Some of it just isn't solvable. The hills are the real issue more than anything else. (That, plus the fact that salting the roads here is an environmental non-starter given how it affects Elliott Bay.)

[lagilman]

They've been marketing non-toxic salt alternatives to metro areas since the early 2000's, best as I can recall, and probably earlier. They're more expensive, but they get the job done, and for only occasional use in a watershed or agricultural area, make perfect sense

The real transit problem on roads, hilly or otherwise, isn't snow, it's black ice. Nobody ever misses that. Ugh.

(I would also point out that the local driving takes a turn for the dumb during heavy rain, too. OMFG B. almost got sideswiped twice, on Saturday...)

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The other piece is that west-side snow is ucky slick wet stuff that careens into ice very quickly. East of the Cascades is where the best snow lies--dry and not as bad. Oregon uses a non-toxic deicer which I think is derived from beet sugar.

There's also the issue of a LOT of Southwesterner migrants to the Northwest. We used to joke around Eugene that you could tell the Californians when the weather got bad...they bought the houses that flooded, they couldn't drive in the snow and rain, etc, etc.

(Note: there was indeed quite the influx of Californians into Oregon in the early 70s, when we did have several cold years with much snow followed by much flooding. That led to the first outrageous real estate boom that I remember, with prices doubling overnight. I don't know what the comparable Seattle history was for certain as I also think that was the era of the Boeing-based jokes that the last person leaving Seattle should turn out the lights. Or something like that.)