Record Snow = Day Off = Awesome (56k warning)

[warwick.hoy]

Some people hate the snow; I love it. Where I grew up; if it snowed an 1/8 of an inch the whole town shut down. I moved to this area hoping for more significant snow events. It has delivered. I don't own a car so I have few worries.



So the snow started flying at about 8 am yesterday morning. It is presently 10:30 our time and the snow is still coming down. Forecasters say it will not stop until about 4pm our time. We have had 17 inches in 24 hours.

We made it to work yesterday. You may or may not know that I work at a sandwich shop and a bulk of our business is delivery to the local business during lunch. Of course no one was willing to leave their job in these conditions so we saw a spike in deliveries. Not that I'm complaining; it's what we are paid to do, but there is a little bit of a selfish thought process there. "I'm not going out in this so I'll order delivery and put someone else in danger in these road conditions". I will say that most of our customers where very understanding and patient with delayed delivery times. Normally we quote 45 mins to an hour. We had to quote one and a half to two hours.

I got home just fine yesterday, but a lot of roads have some sort of grade to them. People couldn't make it up these hills and that shut down a few of the roads. There are neighborhoods south of here that are up pretty steep hills (the South Hill is actually the name of the general area). Those roads were only open to 4x4s with chains. There are about 4 or 5 major arterials that go up the South Hill. That got shut down to 1 and a lot of traffic was re-routed through the downtown area. I heard off hand that it took an hour and a half to go six blocks!!!!

As for today; the owner of our establishment wanted us to work but the downtown area is closed. Enough employees called in that he had to officially close down for the day. He would have had to spend money to open.

A quick look at some of the DOT webcams show no action downtown. It is literally a ghost town. The bus that runs through our neighborhood got stuck so that route isn't running. The Spokane Transit Authority that runs the buses only have 9 routes open on major arterials. Traffic is snarled and they are saying that if you don't have to leave home....don't. Luckily there is a grocery store within walking distance.

On to the Pictures.

I took this one around 3 'o' clock when I got home from work on Wednesday. This is the building my wife and I live in.



I snapped this one about 10 this morning.







On to the Nighttime Pictures (Weds. night).







Digression; here is an after shot of this Vanagon.







I snapped this about 10 am.



So I have the day off and a hockey game coming on at 4. Nice day to drink some coffee, eat some oatmeal then commence to beer drinking. Hopefully the power stays on .

[Relic]

Gorgeous!! I'm right there with you, I love snow.
When I was a kid we used to get a decent amount here in Jersey but not so much anymore

[MilkyMcMilkMilk]

that's a S load of snow. defintely no reason to waste much time trying to go to far cause you probably won't make it.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by MilkyMcMilkMilk

that's a S load of snow. defintely no reason to waste much time trying to go to far cause you probably won't make it.

For sure. With work; since we are delivery based, I figured it prudent that we not put unnecessary traffic on the roads. Chances are that we wouldn't have received very many orders because no ones at work today. The drivers we have do not have 4WD, and our boss (the owner) is kind of a jerk for expecting us to come to work. He removed his head from his ***, got the message and officially closed around 9:30 am. Nobody could get there in these conditions.

My wife walked up to the grocery store and I have been doing my best to keep the sidewalks clear. I've been out there in my snowboarding gear and have been keeping warm. Lots of hot coffee today.

Fun Fact; The old record for a 24 hour period in this area is 13". We were at 17" for that 24 hour period. By the time this is all over with we will probably have gotten 2 feet of snow.

[Joe Gress]

We never know how much (volume) snow we get around my house because it all drifts up. But I had to shovel that much a few days ago.

[warwick.hoy]

Some more pictures for comparison.







These guys have been tooling around the neighborhood and have been making me jealous all morning long. It's okay because.....
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Spokane has pretty much been the bull's eye for this storm. It's funny to watch Seattle Drivers slip and slide in 6 inches while we are dealing with almost 2 feet. A quick check of CL Rants and Raves section reveals a lot of belly aching concerning the snow plows; or lack there of. Suck it up jerkwads; it's winter time. Stay home and enjoy the day off.

[Phalex]

I believe that we are expecting that very same system to come through tonight. They're talking about a snowfall rate of 1" per hour from midnight to about noon tomorrow. Tomorrows commute should be entertaining at the very least.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by Phalex

I believe that we are expecting that very same system to come through tonight. They're talking about a snowfall rate of 1" per hour from midnight to about noon tomorrow. Tomorrows commute should be entertaining at the very least.

That's about what we've been seeing.

Prepare yourself!!!. If you have to go places; get some proper tire chains. Stock up on food and essentials. This is not something you want to travel around in.

[Chad Michael]

Hey warwick.hoy,

I live near 7 mile, just finished shoveling the driveway. Could you bring me a sandwich and a beer?

[Phalex]

I'll be home from practice with a full tank of gas before the fun begins. Maybe I should pick up a bottle of rum just in case I do happen to get snowed in............

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

Spokane has pretty much been the bull's eye for this storm. It's funny to watch Seattle Drivers slip and slide in 6 inches while we are dealing with almost 2 feet. A quick check of CL Rants and Raves section reveals a lot of belly aching concerning the snow plows; or lack there of. Suck it up jerkwads; it's winter time. Stay home and enjoy the day off.

Down here in The Gorge it's been snowing pretty much all week. Yesterday it was coming down hard enough to be really noisy, almost like rain. Then it went to sleet and rain, and back to snow. Should be dropping 30 degrees by tomorrow night too. I haven't moved my van all week, and I'll need to use my wife's AWD car for gigs the next two days -- assuming they aren't canceled. As usual, I didn't bother to get the studded tires on my van in time, and I probably won't until after Christmas now.

If you've ever lived in Seattle you probably know how poorly equipped they are to deal with any amount of snow. There are lots of bridges and hills, and very few plows. I think there were 5-6 for the whole city when I lived there in the mid-80s. I always loved it when a little dusting shut down the city for a few days. As a former Vermonter, I'd say you're just getting a nice little base going up there now.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by bimplizkit

Hey warwick.hoy,

I live near 7 mile, just finished shoveling the driveway. Could you bring me a sandwich and a beer?

Uh, No

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Down here in The Gorge it's been snowing pretty much all week. Yesterday it was coming down hard enough to be really noisy, almost like rain. Then it went to sleet and rain, and back to snow. Should be dropping 30 degrees by tomorrow night too. I haven't moved my van all week, and I'll need to use my wife's AWD car for gigs the next two days -- assuming they aren't canceled. As usual, I didn't bother to get the studded tires on my van in time, and I probably won't until after Christmas now.

If you've ever lived in Seattle you probably know how poorly equipped they are to deal with any amount of snow. There are lots of bridges and hills, and very few plows. I think there were 5-6 for the whole city when I lived there in the mid-80s. I always loved it when a little dusting shut down the city for a few days. As a former Vermonter, I'd say you're just getting a nice little base going up there now.

Watching NWCN there were some vids of a Toyota Tacoma 4x4 spinning out. Quite humorous. I am aware of all the hills in Seattle which is pretty much the same problem here in Spokane. People just can't make it up or down these hills. People have been parking downtown and walking home and are worried about getting ticketed. I'm thinking they are safe as the meter maids are probably at home drinking a beer today.

Silver Mountain; a ski resort over in Kellogg ID, opened up. I'm assuming that's pretty much for the local residents of Kellogg because no one else is going to be able to get there. Ho Hum; I'll have to wait for it to clear up before I can go snowboarding. I tried to go down a few of the hills around here, but my board needs to be waxed.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

Silver Mountain; a ski resort over in Kellogg ID, opened up. I'm assuming that's pretty much for the local residents of Kellogg because no one else is going to be able to get there. Ho Hum; I'll have to wait for it to clear up before I can go snowboarding.

I have had to reschedule some PA maintenance work I'm doing for Mt Hood Meadows pretty much every day for the last week. My wife's Subie wagon wouldn't get me up there last Friday (I actually had to turn around), and I've driven in snow for many decades. But those comp'ed passes I have coming to me are starting to look attractive.

[NWB]

I'm at work here in Bothell. Drivers going 5 mph in front of me! If it weren't for that, I'd be laughing and enjoying the whole spectacle.

It's still snowing. I hope we get about 3 feet here. Not likely, but you can always hope.

I've been pissing and moaning about the lack of snow here for years. It's about time something happened.

I remember when I lived in Bellingham about 10 years ago and we got a solid base of three feet with eight foot drifts. I skied all over town and enjoyed every minute.

[Jeremy Crockett]

Jealous... so very, very jealous.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Passinwind

If you've ever lived in Seattle you probably know how poorly equipped they are to deal with any amount of snow.

Yep, that's pretty much it. Money for snow removal equipment is spent on recycling bins, electric car re-charging terminals, and bicycle sharing programs. But hey, it rarely snows like this so they don't see a need for it.

Such a contrast from Vermont where I just was. They have snow plows and salt trucks driving around the streets just looking for some snow to eliminate. If a snow fall is on the way, they get out there and start prepping the roads.

-Mike

[Relic]

Originally Posted by NWB

I'm at work here in Bothell. Drivers going 5 mph in front of me! If it weren't for that, I'd be laughing and enjoying the whole spectacle.

It's still snowing. I hope we get about 3 feet here. Not likely, but you can always hope.

I've been pissing and moaning about the lack of snow here for years. It's about time something happened.

I remember when I lived in Bellingham about 10 years ago and we got a solid base of three feet with eight foot drifts. I skied all over town and enjoyed every minute.

I swear that I just read your 1st sentence as "I'm at work here in a Brothel"

I was shocked and aghast..
OK, move along, nothing to see here

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by Relic

I swear that I just read your 1st sentence as "I'm at work here in a Brothel"

I was shocked and aghast..
OK, move along, nothing to see here

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bothel...num=1&ct=title

zoom out a little bit for context sake.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bothel...num=1&ct=title

zoom out a little bit for context sake.

There's a Brothel in Bothell?

[Basshappi]

Awesome pics!

Better you than me!