Bob’s comment brought up some questions about Seattle and why people seem to be so terrible at driving in snow here (and why we’re working from home for days!). I found this article and a YouTube user summed it up quite well:
“There are 4 factors that make driving in Seattle different than other areas of the country: Hills, not enough equipment to really handle the snow, lack of experience and/or education in plowing. And finally, the ground is never cold enough. So it always very quickly becomes black ice underneath. I don’t blame people for getting freaked out. I once had an 8 hour commute home because of road conditions – compact ice all the way from Seattle. I hate snow in Seattle.”
So it’s not so much about the amount of snow; it’s more about what happens to the snow after it hits the ground and the inexperience and panic of Seattle drivers in said weather. I feel perfectly comfortable driving in the snow, but you never know what the yahoo in the SUV next to me is thinking. Hills are a huge factor, as Seattle has some pretty gnarly hills; even the hills one would expect to have no problem with become scary with a sheet of ice beneath the snowfall.
Here’s the video from that article, as well as a few other photos on the storm, and also a nice drawing from The Oatmeal that sums up a conversation every single household in Seattle has had in the past few days.
Rights: Kiro TV
Rights: Washington Post
Cliff Mass does a great job at summing up this stuff too.
Apparently we’re getting ice storm warnings today, which should create a royal mess out of the commute. Bets and I are working at home again today, staying cozy, staying safe, staying warm.
As an addendum, Bets sent me this article from King 5′s normal sports columnist Art Thiel, where he explains in detail why Seattle is the worst metropolitan area for driving in snow:
“As a multiple-time winter visitor/driver to New York, Boston, Philly, Buffalo, Toronto, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Spokane, Pullman and lots of smaller burgs, I will declare my credentials regarding meteorological comparables second to none.
Take it from me: There is no metro area as treacherous as Seattle in snow.
The relative infrequency of these bouts makes it easy to characterize the subsequent mayhem a result of Seattle drivers’ fear, inexperience, stupidity, potheadedness or wimphood.
Bah.
No one, from Jimmy Johnson to Danica Patrick to the premier graduate of the Washington State Patrol’s hazardous driving course, can navigate the rare conditions that often attend a major snow dump here.
A driver atop Queen Anne Hill, after a typical snow-melt-refreeze-snow cycle as we’ve seen this week, simply has no chance to get to the bottom of the hill without sideswiping half the parked cars en route. Pure physics, friends. Not driving skill.
No downtown that receives snow is as as hilly as Seattle. Period. The Priniciple of Verticality. There’s just too much up here to get down safely.”
I remember similar comments from Utahans about east coast drivers. Once I lived here, and in Oregon, I can tell you snow in these parts is a whole other ball game. Like you said, places other than Utah do not budget for or have the equipment to salt and plow roads constantly, so the roads are always much bigger messes. And ice is the killer. Utah was so dry that the snow was also very dry and not usually accompanied by rain, plus when it melted it evaporated pretty quickly rather than leaving large sheets of ice. I am pretty good at driving in Utah snow, but I’d rather stay home when it snows here- being good at driving does you no good if all you have to drive on are large, continuous sheets of ice. Stay safe, you two, and enjoy your time at home.
Extra funny. And anything is funny with the TJB playing in the background.
Totally! That’s my boss’ theme song!
Potheadedness and wimphood. Good funnies! Do y’all have trucks that throw sand all over the roads when it’s snowy/icy like we do here? And it also helps to mention that 0% of y’all have 4WD cars. 2WD bikes and a Prius or two. We do extra well in the snow here because everyone’s in a gigantic truck out to prove something to…me? Fishtail city-wheeeeee! (ps- it was 78 here yesterday)
We have three (3) snow plows for the entire city, and those do a decent job at flinging salt all over the road.
There are plenty of Subarus here, that’s for sure. This is definitely an urban myth or something, but someone said you’re not an official Seattlelite until you’ve bought yourself a Subaru. Priuses (Pri’i?) are pretty big here too, and they always seem to be driven by the worst driver, ever. And there’s always that a-hole in every city with the big truck driving insanely while it’s blizzarding – “Ahm so much bigger than yoooou, gonna drive over everything until ah turn bluuuuue! Ahmehrica! These colors don’t run!” Okay, I’ve come up with better songs than that in the past, but you get the picture.
OK, Duncan, I stand corrected!! I’ve had that sinking feeling of not being able to control the car here, too, but not very often. Very different snow, as you know from your several years driving in it Utah’s dry snow.