Since snow is not that common there, they don't have the equipment to deal with it. Any amount of snow unplowed where no one has chains is going to be a major problem and make the roads unsafe.

Naman: Any amount of snow unplowed where no one has chains is going to be a major problem and make the roads unsafe.

Up here in Canada, no one has tire chains - they're generally forbidden anywhere that has paved roads - and we manage to make it to work regardless. And two inches of snow registers as just slightly above a 'heavy frost.' Hell, you don't even have to clear your vehicle after that little.

40below: Naman: Any amount of snow unplowed where no one has chains is going to be a major problem and make the roads unsafe.

Up here in Canada, no one has tire chains - they're generally forbidden anywhere that has paved roads - and we manage to make it to work regardless. And two inches of snow registers as just slightly above a 'heavy frost.' Hell, you don't even have to clear your vehicle after that little.

I'm in Washington, South Sound, and I certainly wouldn't want my non-snow-driving neighbors on the snow-over-ice combination we generally get here.

^{Please, oh please, oh please let the City be shut down in the morning...}

Naman: Since snow is not that common there, they don't have the equipment to deal with it. Any amount of snow unplowed where no one has chains is going to be a major problem and make the roads unsafe.

I want to know places where chains are still allowed. I grew up in Minnesota and now live in Colorado and have NEVER used chains or know anyone who has ever used chains. My oldest sister used chains in Massachusetts once. In 1976.

40below: Up here in Canada, no one has tire chains - they're generally forbidden anywhere that has paved roads - and we manage to make it to work regardless. And two inches of snow registers as just slightly above a 'heavy frost.' Hell, you don't even have to clear your vehicle after that little.

That's Canadian snow. We're talking about American snow. Canadian snow is friendly, polite and apologetic. American snow is stupid, swaggering and obnoxious. Completely different species.

it used to snow there a lot more when I was a kid. we managed fine. I think it's all the cali transplants that don't know wtf to do in the snow that makes it such a big deal.

Wait. If my sister used chains once, then that means I know someone who has used chains.

Please ignore me. I'm an idiot.

ToxicMunkee: Please ignore me. I'm an idiot.

Can I steal that line? I worry about copyright infringement and stuff. But, that works for me.

Two inches shuts down subby's mom too.

/wait...what?

MorrisBird: ToxicMunkee: Please ignore me. I'm an idiot.

Can I steal that line? I worry about copyright infringement and stuff. But, that works for me.

Go crazy with it. :)

Hills sort-of suck with that kind of weather. But you can tackle it rather easily.

I'm in the west hills, I have 5 inches in my yard. It's cold too..around 20-25 degrees and the arctic wind is howling out of the gorge from the east. My F250 4x4 with fatty off road tires is not concerned.

It's cold near the airport. The company bought us pizza, they might even put us up in a hotel nearby so we can be here tomorrow. Whee!

South of OC here--I had three or four inches of snow before the wind started howling. Now the east side of our fir trees have that snow plastered to the trunks. Beautiful powder!

We just got the word that school is cancelled tomorrow, so my kid is thrilled.

Huh--it was 30 degrees when I started typing this...now it's 28.

Oh, the weather guy on KATU gets a cookie. He is able to pronounce "Arctic" properly.

We can get shut down on 2 inches of snow in the South too because we simply don't have snowplows. The local news have showed road crews salting bridges here with a bucket and a shovel. Snow is dangerous without equipment to handle it and lots of places don't.

Even small amounts of snow can be a hazard to transportation.

GaryPDX: I'm in the west hills, I have 5 inches in my yard. It's cold too..around 20-25 degrees and the arctic wind is howling out of the gorge from the east. My F250 4x4 with fatty off road tires is not concerned.

I hope that "fatty off road tires" means decent ATs and not MTs. Non-siped MTs are dangerous as hell once you throw any amount of ice into the mix. When I see any light trucks running MTs this time of year around here, I make a point of staying as far away from them as possible.

Two inches of snow can shut down Portland because

1. As NAMAN states, they just don't have a lot of snow removal/salt/sand equipment since it snows so infrequently. We normally get maybe 1 or two snowstorms a year, and little accumulation.

2. Today, as usual, was more about ice than snow. It is a damp climate, and the temps never really get that cold, so there is a lot of melting snow that refreezes. I am lsightly east of PDX, and we had a lot of ice and black ice today.

3. It is often windy, which just makes everything worse.

Hau Ruck: GaryPDX: I'm in the west hills, I have 5 inches in my yard. It's cold too..around 20-25 degrees and the arctic wind is howling out of the gorge from the east. My F250 4x4 with fatty off road tires is not concerned.

I hope that "fatty off road tires" means decent ATs and not MTs. Non-siped MTs are dangerous as hell once you throw any amount of ice into the mix. When I see any light trucks running MTs this time of year around here, I make a point of staying as far away from them as possible.

They're AT's if that's All Terrain, I assume it is. They're big enough that I needed an inch lift in the front and I have a flatbed on the back. I have fatty chains to go with them too if I need it..:)

GaryPDX: They're AT's if that's All Terrain, I assume it is. They're big enough that I needed an inch lift in the front and I have a flatbed on the back. I have fatty chains to go with them too if I need it..:)

Naw, that's what I was wondering. I always assume off-road tires = MTs (new window) or something similar. Those in the link are what I had, but only in the spring and summer. I learned the hard way about those tires and any amount of ice with the old Jeep. Trucks would have to be worse, especially with no extra weight in the bed.

/On a side note, the old tires would be great if there was a foot of snow (only) on the ground.

What the hell is this "chains not allowed" nanny state crap?

// Washington state says chain law will be in effect til 8 am tomorrow.

// Stevens pass will remain open, chains required by law.

We require chains any time it gets to freezing.

GaryPDX: I'm in the west hills, I have 5 inches in my yard. It's cold too..around 20-25 degrees and the arctic wind is howling out of the gorge from the east. My F250 4x4 with fatty off road tires is not concerned.

Meh, that's nothing.

Supposed to be -2 (F) as a high tomorrow with a nice layer of ice under our snow from the rain that dumped on us today.

From 37 degrees to -2 in less than 24 hours with a WC of -30.

/Audi TT Quattro for the traction win.
//Hope you can get out of the ditch.

And I'd hate to be those poor bastards in Winnipeg right now.

Northwest Held Hostage: Day 2.

Bitter cold, roads iced closed.

Much film of news people standing in 20F / 30 mph wind to come, tonight at 11.

Hope you all got supplies. Looks like we'll have to hole up and ride it out.


batteries check, milk check, and several bottles of Ardbeg single malt, check check and check.

We also got some Makers and Jack in case we got to barter with the Oregonians for fuel. But if it came to it, we'd even take McCarthys from you all if we have to. Oregon Whiskey FTW.

// Stay strong, Blizzard 2K9 continues.

It's -32C right now and there is a few inches of snow, so I am... cold.

Also, I have winter tires because I can't stand not having decent control during our nice long winter.

I swear this stuff must have gone on all sides of Seattle and skipped us.

28F.

zomg onoes.

wimps

NaSkAr:

Try a city with hills everywhere, that doesnt sand salt or plow side streets ever, that owns 27 count em 27 plows for a city over 500,000 ... filled with people who either came from California or grew up here, neither of which has any experience on ice, you'd think they do, but you'd be wrong.. Now mix in pedestrians with automatic rights of way who wander out in traffic because its their god given right to walk in front of cars. Traffic that might at any moment pull over and abandon their vehicles over 1" of snow. Seen it happen.

Oh christ, try living in PA where one half of the people act like a half inch of snow means you should drive at 10 mph and the other half think their SUVs are invincible at 75 mph on an interstate in a blizzard.

Reminds me of this, also from Portland (new window)

NYC doesn't get a lot of snow (4 inches is a "heavy snow", and on rare occasion we will get the odd foot or 2), but we get plenty of ice, which can be far, far, far worse and can shut the city down very effectively.

Paris1127: Reminds me of this, also from Portland (new window)

Ha, was that up on Burnside or thereabouts? I think I remember seeing that a few years ago.

There was another video that one of the news stations kept showing of a Jeep trying to come down Mt. Scott. It was excruciatingly amusing.

Generation_D: What the hell is this "chains not allowed" nanny state crap?

// Washington state says chain law will be in effect til 8 am tomorrow.

// Stevens pass will remain open, chains required by law.

We require chains any time it gets to freezing.

Yeah, that was news to me also. Here in CA, chains are a necessity in the mountains during the winter, and in some places they actually have police checkpoints at roads up the mountains to make sure everyone has chains handy.

Not really sure how bad the wear-and-tear on the roads is with them, admittedly. When I lived in Big Bear, the damage to the road by chains didn't seem all that major, and now living in the North Bay Area, I can tell you that the rainy season here does a _lot_ more damage than snow chains did in the mountains.

This is what we Iowans call "Tuesday".

Generation_D: What the hell is this "chains not allowed" nanny state crap?

// Washington state says chain law will be in effect til 8 am tomorrow.

// Stevens pass will remain open, chains required by law.

We require chains any time it gets to freezing.

We do? Huh. News to this transplant.

For those who don't know how snow works in the northwest, it's different than back east.
Back east the snow doesn't stick to squat until the ground has frozen. There are also not that many hills.
In the northwest the ground never freezes. The snow doesn't start to stick until it's been falling pretty steadily for a while. What you get where it sticks is about 1/4 inch of ice with snow on top. It's a fun skating rink of hills and most natives insist on driving 10 mph. This doesn't get them up the substantial hills. Couple all that with snow removal departments consisting of two Mexicans, a salt shaker and a snow shovel, and you have a recipe for disaster. Luckily, since the ground isn't frozen, once the sun comes out most of the compact ice goes away.

I don't stay home when it snows because I can't drive in it. I stay home because none of the morons around me can and I don't want to get hit by some chucklehead in an SUV who doesn't realize four wheel drive won't help him on ice.

dillenger69: I don't stay home when it snows because I can't drive in it. I stay home because none of the morons around me can and I don't want to get hit by some chucklehead in an SUV who doesn't realize four wheel drive won't help him on ice.

THIS.

It's not the snow, it's the ice. Everything here is covered in an inch of it. And like most places where snow is rare, nobody had snow tires or tire chains. most cars don't have 4wd. So, yes, we are shut down.

Naman: Since snow is not that common there, they don't have the equipment to deal with it. Any amount of snow unplowed where no one has chains is going to be a major problem and make the roads unsafe.

Are you shiatting me? When I hear "two inches of snow" all I do is figure it will ten an extra minutes to get to the grocery store. Two inches is nothing.

Naman: Since snow is not that common there, they don't have the equipment to deal with it. Any amount of snow unplowed where no one has chains is going to be a major problem and make the roads unsafe.

Last year here in Edmonton I got a memo from my boss warning us all that despite the fact it was going to be -45c with a wind of -15 with blizzard conditions we were all expected to be at work on time. "A blizzard is no reason to miss work!"
/I rode my bike into work that night
//Why yes I am that hardcore

Newsflash: The effect of snow depends on the location on which it falls. Those poor bastards in Wadena, Minnesota got 16 inches of snow yesterday. But if 16 inches of snow fell in one day here in Southern California, it would be one of the biggest disasters in US history.

the article says "several inches".....how's that two inches to you people?

/scratches head and wonders where morons learned to type

I've skied for years and know how to drive in the snow. I've always put on chains when necessary, and that's easy to do...but most people think their front wheel drive/all wheel drive will handle anything.

One thing to note though about Seattle...unlike places out East which routinely get many feet of snow...

Our "Hills" are your "Mountains". The Puget Sound and Seattle area has a LOT of changes of elevation that you don't see in places like Chicago, New York, etc.

The combination of "all-wheel drive" idiots and those hills are a terrible mix, and I love watching the videos of people trying to go down or up our hills without chains...

Having moved here from the Rockies back in '95, I just eat it up.

Back in '96 people actually abandoned their cars on the interstate?!

I am in Beaverton and the snow doesn't look bad, but I have been hearing cars hitting the retaining walls behind my kitchen all day. I understand that it is icy, but still....

/People drive like morons here
//Even when it is dry
///Especially in parking lots.

wind should be windchill, my bad.

I'm on Alberta Street in PDX and I've been watching cars sliding around all day.

Dallymo: Paris1127: Reminds me of this, also from Portland (new window)

Ha, was that up on Burnside or thereabouts? I think I remember seeing that a few years ago.

There was another video that one of the news stations kept showing of a Jeep trying to come down Mt. Scott. It was excruciatingly amusing.

I don't know. I don't live in Portland, let alone anywhere west of the Rockies. I just saw the video on TV a few years ago.

Jormungandr:
Last year here in Edmonton I got a memo from my boss warning us all that despite the fact it was going to be -45c with a wind of -15 with blizzard conditions we were all expected to be at work on time. "A blizzard is no reason to miss work!"
/I rode my bike into work that night
//Why yes I am that hardcore

If by "hardcore" you mean "insane", then yes. Yes, you are.