What whiners ... I used to - and this is NOT a joke - walk uphill two miles to catch a two hour school bus ride, pulling my sister on a toboggan behind me - in snow up to my chest. That's called living in the Rockies in BC.

You call THIS snow? I call it a light dusting.

People are inconvenienced about 3 days every five years.

Undoubtabley due to all of them subscribing to the same news source.....the local newspapers.

---Jensen

I lived in Colorado, and they were just as bonkers about snow there on the TV news as they are here. The difference is that the Snowpocalyse trigger point in Denver is 12 inches where here it's an inch. Of course, Denver proper has few hills and only rarely do they get ice storms. But yeah, you should see them when there's a two foot plus dump. They're all Walter Kelley Hip Harbinger O' Doom Academy graduates.

And the problem isn't the arterials. The problem is the non-arterials north of 85th looking like bobsled tracks. There's no easy way up the hills in this end of town when you have an inch of ice on the streets.

All the people from places where snow is daily fact of life and their constant bitching about how a city where measurable snowfall occurs maybe once every three to five years hasn't spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on buying and maintaining ice/snow removal equipment.

As for road treatment: We don't use salt on the roads because A) it kills the salmon or something and B) we want to keep our roadside concrete structures beautiful, unlike the salt-stained walls around the Kennedy in Chicago and near Minneapolis's freeways.

In other words, hippies and architects here have too much power.

Yeah, I don't have TV anymore. . . somebody tell me what the stations have named this particular "blizzard".

I've been housesitting in Crown Hill, and I can't get my car out. The roads are still solid ice. I'm about to go out there with a bag of rock salt my own fucking self. Grrr.

Yeah, if the cost/benefit ratio proves that it is not worth maintaining extra salt trucks to deal with the few days of ice and snow each year, I understand. But it's still funny to me-- I can't help it-- that all of Seattle Public Schools are closed for the second day in a row because of a tiny bit of snow. The city's lack of snow planning equals financial losses around town, but it also equals a lack of education! What about the children!? :D They are loving it, I'm sure.

I was at the stadium during the "snow storm" and every one there was having a great time and nobody was complaining, people knew the commute was going to be long. No biggie. I took the 42 and was home in 1/2 an hour. People adjust. If there is ice, you drive slow and you watch your turns, no biggie. Stop scaring people with these goofy news casts and school and downtown buildings close downs. Downtown was a ghost town yesterday when I came to work and thats just nonsense. People here in Seattle arent wimpy with the weather, hell most of us grew up in colder or hotter climates. I think it is the city administrators.

BUT, it is pretty bad...ice, hills, & heavy commuter traffic are not a good mix...and it's compounded by the fact that it's a relatively rare event so it doesn't make sense to pour millions into de-icing equipment and the locals don't have the driving skills to navigate such conditions...(and if you're wondering, I'm from the Midwest, so i KNOW how to drive in crappy weather) You can't compare driving in icy conditions in Seattle with driving in icy conditions in Pittsburgh or Omaha or Toronto....the locals are used to driving in the shit, and they don't have the hills we have...

have you ever driven in So-Cal during a winter rainstorm...those fuckers fall apart 'cause they don't know how to drive in rainy conditions and they fall apart...fortunately, most of them drive really, really slow when it rains so it's not so bad...

I personally love the cheese factor of local newscasts when a winter storm comes through.

Snow equipment isn't a huge priority because snowfall usually melts the next day, 2 days tops. As a kid, snow days were AWESOME!! Until June, when you had to make those days up.

And Pittsburgh is surprisingly rather hilly, #23. But yes, ice on Seattle's hills is way different than ice in flat cities.

not really...

sure it snows, and yes it's funny to see the KOMO team sponsored by North Face in matching outfits on TV promoting 'winter blast 2006 brought to you by Arbys!'. whatever. if you think we didn't get hit take your hipster ass up to shoreline and check out some of the side streets. Seattle should take time to promote telecommunting rather than making their employees truck into work.

I don't really see any reason the city should be investing in a contingency plan. The snow never sticks for more than a day or two. Chill out people. Take the day off. Walk. Do whatever. Most of all, please take turn driving your 4x4 down icy Republican to 12th ave, so whoever lives in my old apartment can laugh at the show as I once did.

I lived my teen years in rural and suburban King County where the snow really does pile up, I think does a the county actually does a decent job of keeping things safe... enough. There's way better uses of government money than a bunch of snow plows so people can, uh, DRIVE MORE.

Also, yeah, salt, sand, and antifreeze chemicals washing into the storm drains - great for the envirnment, even better for your car. One of the reasons the life expectancy of a car in Michigan is about 10 years. We don't need it.

At least I've seen firsthand how badly .5 inches of snow cripples the city, so I can understand the overreaction.

But, did any catch KIRO who had two dudes come from Everett to sell Seahawk tickets, run out of gas, have no money, then had to spend the night and most of the next day in their car? I never laughed so hard as I did at those two broke dumbass's plight.

Who in their right mind invests their entire net worth into the promise of gain based upon scapling Seahawk tickets? During a Seattle snow storm? Without a full tank of gas to get back home? Not only that, but those losers had no one who wanted to drive in the snow monday or tuesday to pick their sorry asses up? And, and a big and at that, they tell the story on the local news.

Thanks for the laughs, dumbasses, hope you got home safely, and for the record, take Metro north, transfer onto Community Transit heading north, then hop on Everett transit to get home. Sure, that trip takes like 4, maybe 6 hours, but when your income is speculatively gained from the resale of Seahawks tickets, I suspect you have hours to burn.

I was at the Football game on Monday too and it was a lovely and quaint winter wonderland. Post post-game brew, with no cabs to be had and already dressed for the weather, I was fortunate enough to enjoy a very quiet 35 minute walk home and not a multiplied, nighty-icy drive.