A winter wonderland

The Pacific Northwest, like many other parts of the country, has been hammered all week long with some unusually harsh winter weather. I ended up working from home on Thursday as Seattle was blanketed with at least 3-5 inches of snow. That sort of weather is exceptionally rare in these parts; heavy snow typically only falls in the mountains, and when it does hit the city and surrounding lowlands, it almost never sticks around for long.

Nevertheless, temperatures this week have been very cold by Seattle standards — 20s and 30s for daytime highs, and teens at night. That means the snow we got won't be going anywhere for some time. It also means that the city has been shut down. When I first stepped outside on Thursday morning to go grab a cup of coffee, I was greeted by a gorgeous winter wonderland and an eerie, quiet stillness that hung in the air — a stark contrast to the rumblings that woke me up just before dawn, which at first I feared was an earthquake. It turned out to be "thunder snow," accompanied by bright flashes of lightning that were magnified by the snow falling. Quite exceptional.

There's a few things to be learned about winter conditions in this area. First, they don't ever salt the roads — for environmental reasons, I hear — which sometimes makes the steep hills of Seattle non-navigable when freezing precipitation falls. If sand doesn't do the trick, they simply close the streets. Second, because residents of the area aren't used to this kind of weather, they tend to freak out about it much faster than Midwesterners would. If Seattleites must drive in snow, they chain up their tires as though they're preparing for a trip over the mountain pass (on some of these hills, they might as well be). Even still, they don't always drive well in it. As a pedestrian, I discovered quickly to ensure that a car has come to a complete stop before venturing into a crosswalk. Just because the vehicle appears to be slowing down does not mean that the driver will be able to stop in time. I saw too many cars today with locked tires that were nevertheless still moving uncontrollably.

My flight back to Chicago for Christmas is scheduled to leave on Friday afternoon. Between the messy weather here and even messier weather there, I doubt that it will depart on time. (My recent air travel experiences have left me with nothing but a cynical attitude toward the whole idea.) Regardless, I will be in the Midwest for the next two weeks. If you will be as well, let's plan to meet at some point.