As I approach my 12 year anniversary of living in Seattle, I think this snow is a record for me (I arrived right after the huge snow in ’96 so I can’t claim that on my list). I don’t ever remember having this much snow on the ground before. And thankfully we never got the expected wind, so everyone still has power.
I’ll be heading out in a few minutes for pictures an updates. Got some snow pics? Upload them here. Seen a sledding party or other snow-related fun? Leave a comment below to let us all know where it’s happening.
It looks gorgeous out there. Get out and have some fun, shovel some snow to help pedestrians, and enjoy the day.
I was here for the unexpected storm in December 1990, where we got 17 inches in a day, and it hung around for nearly two weeks due to sub-freezing temps. However, that was just one day of snow. I cannot recall a circumstance when we’ve gotten repeated snowstorms with significant accumulation like this.
I’m amused that most of the people I know can’t go any further back than the ’96 storm (which was worse for the collapsing roofs and flooding than for the snow itself), and many weren’t even here for that one.
Memories of the pre-Christmas surprise snow in 1990: neighbors working together to help stranded school-kids.
http://millerparkseattle.blogspot.com/2008/12/remember-1990-
We’re watching a group of people ski, snowboard, and sled west down Pike in Madrona. They’re doing really well!
Rats, and I was just getting ready to venture out to see the sledders :-
I remember. I was on a nice two week break from working out of town. It snowed. The streets turned into rutted ice tracks. Then it snowed again. Like over a foot. Restaurants were open and walking was in order. No buses ran to where I was for many days.
It was not the ‘surprise’ of 1990, it was more like this is.
You should poke at the snow. It’s really, um, interesting. There’s about 4″ of snow on the ground, with a sheet of solid ice on top of that, and then a little snow on that. It’s like a giant Cadbury Christmas egg.
One time in the late 80’s I measured 13″ of snow in my back yard. That is still the record for me. Around that time of my life after a nice snowfall I skied up to Capitol Hill to meet a friend. North Capitol Hill had lots of fluffy snow. We wanted to ski around the Lakeview Cemetery but it was closed and the gate locked. We knocked on the door of the office and a man answered who did not look at all like what I was expecting, namely Lurch. This guy was young, tan and stylish. He told us they close the cemetery during big snows because there are trees in there whose branches break under heavy snow accumulation and so it’s dangerous. But, he said, kids climb over the fence all the time, and he just can’t see them do that from where he is – no, not at all. I wasn’t a kid but I thanked him and left. We climbed in and the snow was glorious.
1952. That was the real snow! 1985 brought a little, too. Come to think of it, 1974 & 75 brought a few flakes….