Coming from Chicago, Brad and I are naturally used to lots of snow, ice, and cold weather. Apparently, Portland residents aren't. On Wednesday, the city was estimated to get 2-4 inches of snow. What we ended up getting was about 1/2 an inch and some rain. I had a dentist appointment that day (with one of the last alumni from Northwestern's Dental School!), and they had called me asking to come in for my appointment a little early so that they could scoot out of the office before the "big storm hits". On the walk home, I noticed that the huge federal building next door to our apartment complex was completely shut down. No security guards or anything. The lights were all off in their lobby - and this is a 25 story building.
Before moving out to Portland, I have never seen chains on a tire before. On "big" snow days, they're required out here...even in the city. By law, we're actually supposed to carry chains in our vehicles at all times. What I found truly fascinating (and I wish I had a picture) was that all the buses and police cars have tire chains on now. They must take tire chains really seriously around here.
I also noticed that the city of Portland lacks snow plows and salt. They definitely have black ice out here because of the constant temperature fluctuations around 32 degrees and consistent rain...so I don't get why they don't salt around here at all? It would definitely help save a lot of people from slipping on what appears to be wet pavement but actually turns out to be sheets of ice on the sidewalks and roads.
I guess I'm just grumpy because in the last 13 years, I have never had a snow day and I feel in Portland they're just handing out snow days like it's candy on Halloween. But I guess the positive side to all of this is that Mt. Hood is getting hit by a lot of snow (22" on Thursday alone!), so there may be a chance we go snowboarding this weekend...
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It's true in Seattle, too. Although yesterday we finally got the 2-4" promised to us...and waited for almost 2 hours outside this morning as buses made their way through the ice and bad drivers. It's worse here, though, because of the hills right in the middle of the city--a lot of my friends are stranded at home. And based on the amount of ice formed from packed-down snow, it's a good thing they let kids stay at home.
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