It does not often snow in the metro Seattle area. Sure Mts Baker and Rainier are snow covered in July, but that’s a fact of elevation, not of the typical weather in Seattle. As you might imagine, a geographic region with little annual snowfall will nearly always choose to invest in equipment other than snow plows and road sanders. That’s not to say the metro area doesn’t have these things, just not in large quantities.
So, when it does snow two things happen. One, it takes the WSDOT a bit of time to mobilize and two, people who don’t usually drive in snow and ice are suddenly thrust into the deep end (so to speak).
Having grown up in the Midwest where snow and ice are just part of the daily routine, I know enough to stay off the roads. No heroic, white-knuckled attempts to make it to work and no raiding the grocery store for all the canned milk and bottled water my car can hold.
Case in point, Wednesday evening. We all went to bed in a dry, sane world and awoke to a “blizzard”. I say blizzard lightly because the worst hit neighborhood (mine) received 6″. I know anyone from Michigan or upstate New York is laughing themselves onto the floor right now, but remember, other than skiing, Seattleites don’t know snow.
What I realized is that I miss snow. Not enough to move home or to Michigan or upstate NY, but enough to admit that visually it makes things lovely – trees, yards, porches, roads (at least until they plow). Coming just before Christmas, is very Rockwellean.
So, for your viewing pleasure, I submit a few photos off my best friend’s back porch, which has a lovely view of downtown Redmond and the Cascades.