Snow, Snow, Snow

Sunday morning snow

Yesterday morning I woke up to this. It snowed a tiny bit more today, but nothing serious. It was very icy this morning though but by this afternoon it had warmed up above freezing and the roads were looking pretty good. Today is appearing quite mellow compared to what is to come. They've been forecasting snow through Wednesday, but the forecasts continue to get more serious as Wednesday approaches. So far the city has kept the roads under control and I haven't heard of any major accidents.

The forecast has been saying that several inches of snow could fall Wednesday morning but would turn to rain (=Kodiak style slush) by afternoon. Now, some models are showing that instead, we could get 8-15 inches of snow!!! That is the kind of snow that doesn't happen often and is crippling to a city like this. Although it could mean awesome snowboarding at Stevens Pass (they're predicting 40-55 inches of snow on Wednesday alone), I'm honestly not looking forward to it. It means buses basically won't be running (they will but good luck trying to actually get anywhere), the roads will be dangerous (with that much snow, it will take some time before the plows make it to arterial streets), and mountain passes will probably be closed (read: no snowboarding). These conditions make it very difficult for me to get to campus. We'll see what happens, but if it really does dump over a foot early Wednesday morning, I'm betting campus will be closed. Tomorrow though I think I'll have to tough it out waiting for a bus out on Lake City - wearing good boots and a warm jacket and giving myself plenty of extra time to get there. In the meantime it's been nice to spend two days at home working on prep for my class, other research, and canning.

Ryan has been out in the mountains every day this weekend, including today. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday he was taking an Avalanche class in Snoqualmie Pass. Today he left at 4:30 in the morning with other Seattle Mountain Rescue volunteers to drive to Mt. Rainier National Park to help with a search for a missing snowshoer. The snowshoer had been missing since Saturday, so I was relieved to read in the news just a little while ago that he was found alive - cold, but okay. Glad to hear a good ending to that story and so glad there are so many capable and dedicated rescue volunteers like Ryan.