December 18, 2008

Snow Day

Posted in life at 2:13 pm by Michael

Seattle, December 18, 2008

Seattle Truism

When snow is forecast, there will be no snow.

When snow is not forecast, there will be snow.

Tuesday night into yesterday we were forecast to get some pretty significant snow. It’s been unseasonably cold here – not getting above freezing – since Sunday. That’s about 10-15 deg F colder than usual, with lows even getting into the teens. That’s pretty unheard of here.

I left for Boston on Sunday night on the JetBlue redeye. (I wasn’t feeling great about leaving, given the break-in we had Friday night.) I was supposed to be there through Wednesday night.

By Monday afternoon, all of the Seattle weather forecasters were warning of the worst, and not wanting to get stuck in Boston for a long time, I changed my flight to come back Tuesday night. Getting back, it was cold – 26 F, which is very chilly for this time of year here.

On Tuesday night, the forecasters were still saying that it was going to snow in downtown Seattle all day Wednesday. On the way from the airport, I went to the store to “stock up”, and got Samwich his all-important yogurt shakes and milk.

I awoke on Wednesday to absolutely no snow, and about a 10 F increase in temp. About 20 miles to the north, and 20 to the south, there was snow. But, due to the direction of the wind and the storm, we were being “Snow Shadowed” by the Olympic mountains, and there was absolutely no snow whatsoever.

Even so, the forecasters were still calling for it to start “Any Time Now!”. Most all of the local schools in the Puget Sound closed, without a snow flake in sight.

I went into work, and it was pretty light – both because of the time of year, and also because many people had stayed home.

Up to the north and south, there was 6-12 inches of snow, and that’s paralyzing around here. But, in Seattle – nothing.

There was a forecast of some “Snow Showers” in the area, but nothing significant.

Off to bed.

At about 530am, we were woken up to a loud clap of thunder. There was another… I looked outside, and it had really started to snow.

There was maybe an inch.

The forecast was calling for it to taper off by 9-10am at the latest.

As I write this at 2pm, it just slowed down, and there is one more big slug of snow coming shortly.

Needless to say, it was a snow day. There is really no driving on our street when it gets like this. Anh, Samwich and I took a break and went out for Samwich’s first sledding adventure… He loved it.

So many ‘softies were home that our remote mail servers were slammed, and not accessible for most of the morning….

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. No more snow is forecast.

HA!

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