confidential to fnarf: love every one of your inches.

*crosses fingers for extra snow*

After spending 45 minutes on 12th between Union and Yesler, I finally just pulled off, parked (in a real parking spot - I'm not THAT much of an idiot) and walked the rest of the way home. It's zoned parking, but I didn't care. I just wanted out of there.

Boy, am I glad I did. The town is one big honk tonight.

I just had to vent.

But, I agree about the notifications: wish we had those nifty chaser board types displays at stops like they do in PDX.

Erostratus, it's not the "inch of snow" that freaks out Seattle drivers, it's when that quickly compacts into a half inch of solid ice that things get challenging.

if you love snow so much, i suggest you get in your cars and drive 20 miles up into the mountains...you can find snow up there for a good 8-9 months out of the year...

or move to minnesota...

When it comes to odd weather, bus drivers are heroes, but they are also the worst people to ask for the latest information. They're too busy making sure they can get their riders from A to B as is.

I hope some good comes from this.

a) Yes, however rare it is, we need a way to deploy sanding and salting quickly. British Columbia has a system, and they get similar weather than us. Why not Washington state?

b) Maybe, just maybe, people might consider a lifestyle that's not so dependent on a car. Was I thankful for being a bus rider yesterday and today? Absolutely. Despite some bus services being shut down, at least I figured I would be safe, and I could walk home at worst if I could get off the bus earlier -- which is exactly what I had to do. This was coming from the eastside back to Seattle via SR 520, for what it's worth.

Just FYI I saw sanders and plows on Leary Way and on 15th at around 4:30 - 4:45 yesterday, so presumably they had been deployed and were ready to roll as soon as the snow began falling.

Again, it's not that the trucks don't get out there quickly, and aren't being operated as efficiently as possible, it's simply that there aren't enough of them available to cover every major roadway at a moment's notice; and there won't be so long as we only get this kind of weather maybe three or four days a year at most.

Comte, thanks for the info. I'm guessing it was the hills on the west end of Wallingford into Ballard that contributed more to the dangerous vehicular conditions.