It depends a lot on how well the infrastructure is set up (how quickly roads get cleared, etc). Although "a few snow showers" doesn't sound like much of a snow day. How much snow is actually on the ground?
Anyway, if it's actively snowing and the road conditions suck...
Don't drive if you can avoid it. Don't go fast. Don't trust your brakes. (ABS helps somewhat, if you have it.) Keep an ice scraper and brush in your car. Make sure your wiper fluid has antifreeze in it. (I think) Make sure your most recent oil change took into account where you live.
They spent last night and early this morning clearing the roads, but it was a big mess. A lot of people had abandoned their cars, and several freeways were closed due to icy conditions. I read that it took some people 5-9 hours to get home, when the typical commute would have been less than an hour. Some of my coworkers left work at 7 pm and didn't get home until 1:30 am because of the traffic and bad roads.
So, although they're working quickly to clear the roads, this city isn't well equipped because snow doesn't happen that often. In Redmond around the Microsoft campus, they've run out of sand to put down on the road. Early this morning I got an email that said the campus was closed, but I guess it's open with limited access now.
As for how much snow is actually on the ground, around my house it's probaby no more than 5 or 6 inches. But in other areas of Washington, they've reported 14 inches to 2 feet.
Nice. Stories of places completey ill-equipped to handle the sort of thing New England takes for granted make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Although there were a few winters in Boston when the first half was so bad that the city used up its winter budget (snowplows and so on) by December or January. Those were fun.
Anyway, not bad. That's actually a respectable amount of snow. Hope you're enjoying it. (Aside from the bruised knee.)
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It depends a lot on how well the infrastructure is set up (how quickly roads get cleared, etc). Although "a few snow showers" doesn't sound like much of a snow day. How much snow is actually on the ground?
Anyway, if it's actively snowing and the road conditions suck...
Don't drive if you can avoid it.
Don't go fast.
Don't trust your brakes. (ABS helps somewhat, if you have it.)
Keep an ice scraper and brush in your car.
Make sure your wiper fluid has antifreeze in it.
(I think) Make sure your most recent oil change took into account where you live.
Reply
So, although they're working quickly to clear the roads, this city isn't well equipped because snow doesn't happen that often. In Redmond around the Microsoft campus, they've run out of sand to put down on the road. Early this morning I got an email that said the campus was closed, but I guess it's open with limited access now.
As for how much snow is actually on the ground, around my house it's probaby no more than 5 or 6 inches. But in other areas of Washington, they've reported 14 inches to 2 feet.
Thanks for the driving tips!!
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Although there were a few winters in Boston when the first half was so bad that the city used up its winter budget (snowplows and so on) by December or January. Those were fun.
Anyway, not bad. That's actually a respectable amount of snow. Hope you're enjoying it. (Aside from the bruised knee.)
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I like looking out at the snow from my warm appartment with my hot coco. good times. :-D
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