School let out about an hour and half ago, and the first few drops of rain are starting fall. But still no sign of snow.
What do you think the chances are that Seattle schools will be open tomorrow, when the roads will be considerably icier than today?
Snowing and sleeting here in Shoreline now. I took advantage of the break in weather today to get some necessary errands run.
Stay safe, everyone.
Starting to pick up again in T-Town, too. Temperature is dropping pretty quick and streets are turning white again. Looks like Christmas vacation is starting early for Tacoma schools…
In my day they didn’t close school for the snow, ice, cold weather, etc. Sure, once in a while on a really snowy or icy day school started two hours late, but they didn’t cancel it. What’s changed?
Got about 2 inches of snow now – and more coming. I live on a hill – so we get snow earlier. They canceled school today, even though there was no snow. I guess they remember the horror stories. Just two years ago (November), I was caught on I-405 at 7:30 PM. the traffic came to a complete stop and they closed the exit I wanted to get off on. I got off 405 and ended up walking 10 miles in the snow and pushing out a ton of cars.
My favorites were the woman who asked us to push her out but kept turning her wheels perpendicular to the direction we were pushing.
Another favorite was the woman who was putting her chains on the back wheels and was almost finished, when I asked her if she had front wheel drive. She said, “Why yes, how did you know?”. And I proceeded to explain why the chains needed to go on the front wheels.
Once, going up Mt. Baker, many years ago, the group in front of me kept going in a circel and couldn’t move. turns out, they had ONE chain on one tire….
Troll @ 3:
Having school in session during periods of inclement weather creates problems with excused absences. In lots of schools there is a finite limit to the number of excused absences a student can accumulate before s/he fails a class. If a student has difficulty getting to school because of inclement weather and eventually ends up going over the limit, parents scream havoc at the administrators. I’m not thinking any aspect of the whole situation is right, I’m just clarifying part of the situation.
OTOH, too many snow days can actually push a school district’s AY back past its originally scheduled end date, and I’ve even heard about a case of an entire senior class not being allowed to graduate on time due to an accumulation of snow days.
CnR:
Sounds kinda like the videos we all saw of the bad storm that passed through Portland a few years back. Volvo Pinball, baby!
I just read on CNN.com that you people are mad that Obama has selected evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver inauguration invocation.
You people? CNN never asked me!
I could careless who delivers the invocation. I care about what happens once Obama is invocated.
American conservatives could learn a lot from their cousins across the pond. I hooked up with some speeches by the British conservative party though iTunes U. and they are quite spot on.
The British conservative’s want to build high-speed rail throughout the UK, btw.
@8 Yawn.
@9 Right on!
@8 Whatsamatter, are you disappointed because he didn’t pick Rev. Wright?
Troll @ 8- tell me again how you are the unofficial moderator, responsible for keeping threads on topic.
But we know you are a lying hypocrit.
Not only no snow in lower QA today, it was so warm the ice/snow in the deep shade melted.
—-
I remember walking to school once (in the old days before parents started driving their little darlings) and suprise…very few teachers. Seems many teachers lived farther away and drove, and they just couldn’t make it in through the snow to our Chicago suburb.
Picking Rick Warren for an invocation does not send the greatest of messages. While he’s a huge improvement over say Dobson or Robertson, his views are way right of center.
But like Michael said I can suspend judgment until AFTER the invocation.
no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes
Very strange comments listening to the news last night.
Severe winter weather. – 4 inches of snow per day?
Severe winter cold. – Below 0 is severe.
Severe road conditions. – Ever heard of regularly scheduled road snow plowing.
Just like the media to mold one’s view.
Update: Thursday morning.
I left Everett about 5:00 a.m. with somewhere between 4 and 6 inches of new snow on the ground where I live. Driving was no problem because snow was fresh, freeway was mostly clear.
Started running into trouble in Kirland. A snow shower covered the lines making it hard to tell what lane you were in. Lighting in a snowstorm???? That’s a new one for me.
At about 5:45 I’m almost to work, I take the cloverleaf exit from I-405 to N.E. Eigth street (eastbound). On the inclined exit ramp, the Mustang in front of me stops, then slides sideways when he tries to start again. I’m now at a complete stop, backing up to keep him from hitting me as he slides down the hill sideways towards me. He finally comes to a stop, but so does all the traffic on the exit.
We get him pushed to the side, but now I have no momentum, I can’t get traction up the hill. I have a bag of sand in my car, but I use almost all of it to no affect. I back up a bit to get over to the side and out of the way of other traffic. A long line of traffic trying to exit prevents us from backing out and trying another way.
I put on my high-visibility flight line jacket and with three other guys (who are also stuck), and we spend the next three hours sorting cars out – pushing to the side cars that have no hope of getting up the ramp, letting 4-wheel drives through, and pushing the lighter cars up the hill ourselves. We install chains on about ten cars – people had them in their trunks, but had no idea how to put them on.
Finally we get it to the point where the sanding truck can get through. He drops some sand, but since he’s almost out it’s only about a 50% improvement. But that helps some more cars get through, provided they have some momentum at the start. We push the rest on through.
Kudos to the gal from Connecticut who came with a Jeep Wagoneer and used a tow strap to get several cars out who had been pushed to the side of the ramp – including mine. At one point an 18-wheeler with a Food Services of America truck insisted he would have no trouble making it up the hill (he had chaines on two wheels). He got stuck, and the Jeep actually pulled it up the hill. I’ve got a picture on my cell phone of the jeep right before they hooked up the tow strap, I’ve got to figure out how to get it downloaded.
Anyway, I stop at Home Depot and pick up a flat-blade shovel, just in case I need it on the way home. I almost threw one from home in the car, I wish I had. With all the time I spend on that exit ramp, I could have cleared the whole ramp of snow and ice if I had the right tool.
Anyay, finally make it into the office at 9:30 a.m.
The science of meteorology is pretty good at predicting WHAT’s going to happen, but they’re not as good at WHEN.
It’s almost Biblical: “You cannot know the day, or the hour…”
Cliff Mass
says this about Seattle’s snow day on Wednesday:
“… But even the most critical must admit that the models were absolutely correct about the rainshadowing over Seattle….take a look at the output graphics of my previous posts. Seattle should never have cancelled school…”
@19…rhp6033…
And your life depended upon you leaving Everett this morning because…???
Why in the name of the fantasies of Goldy would you want to risk ending up like my good friend Paul whose wake is this Saturday???
Sheesh, man…and deprive me of a sparing partner?
Would you do me a favor and motel it tonight? You think this morning was bad…wait until there’s a titch of thaw then a freeze.
Can you say bumper cars???
BTW…between now and 1/19 (putative sale of the house closes that date) if you should try a dumb stunt like that again and find yourself stuck near the NE 160th exit off I-405, let me know – I can give you refuge.
The Piper
@20…AF…
Excellent sermon – the day of judgment is at hand, so live as if there is no tomorrow for that very well may be the case.
Preach on, brother!
The Piper
@22: Piper
Very nice offer.
As long as most of the cars are out of the way and I can get a good jump on the hills, driving in the snow is easy. The problem in Seattle is compounded by the hills, the inexperienced drivers, the volume of traffic and the lack of plowing/sanding/deicing.
Piper @ 22: Thanks for the offer. That 160th St. NE area can be a bear in snow/ice.
But you would have to promise me not to wear any kilts while I’m sleeping on the couch at your place.
I usually come in very early on “snow days”. As long as there’s no traffic around me to mess things up, I usually have no problem. But I overslept a bit – I intended to get up at 4:00, but today I didn’t get up until 4:30 a.m. If I had left just one minute earlier, I wouldn’t have gotten stuck because of the traffic ahead of me. My momentum would have carried me up that hill, ice or no ice.
And yes, my job does require at least one of us to be in the office by 7:30 a.m. every weekday morning. We have to provide logistical support for grounded aircraft around the world. When there is a multi-million dollar airplane grounded, customers want parts right away, and they don’t want to hear complaints about the weather. Fortunately, I’m only the backup for that duty, and my colleague was able to make it in time (she took the bus). I called to make sure she made it in. If she couldn’t, I would have left my car and walked the rest of the way.