Seattle Snowstorm

Winter sky-morning sunrise

38th Avenue Alley

Last night and this morning, almost 6 inches of snow fell on Seattle. It’s the most we’ve gotten in two years. We had no snow last winter. It’s lovely! Not since the 27″ New York City blizzard of 1996 have I been able to cross-country ski from my front door! I love the novelty and convenience of being able to do that–instead of having to drive 3 hours as you do in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

My wife & I (both native New Yorkers) talked last night (as we heard of all the schools, offices and services to be closed the next day) about how on the east coast nothing closes until there’s 8″ or more of snow on the ground. Seattleites are really wimps when it comes to snow. Although, part of the reason is that the City doesn’t maintain much snow moving equipment. Why they’ve even closed several big sections of Interstate 5 over the last few days because they couldn’t plow them well enough for the roadway to be safe for driving. I can’t imagine that happening back east.

Last week, I went to Trader Joe’s and they had almost no frozen or fresh food because all of it is trucked up from California and the entire Siskiyou Pass was closed for a day or two. Imagine that!

We live in Madrona, a neighborhood on the western shore of Lake Washington. With the snow falling, we can barely see the lake only 1/4 mile from our house. The Western cedars and English walnut outside our back window are dusted with white powder. Lovely.

Jonah’s never seen snow outside his home like this. Never before seen the big boys and girls sledding down neighborhood hills. We weren’t even prepared and hadn’t bought him a sled yet. So of course he cried out that he wanted to go down the hill with them too. I know what I’ve got to buy later this week. I hope there will be more snow like this. Given the coldness of the winter so far, it’s very likely we will.

I plopped Jonah into the kiddy backpack, strapped on my X-country skis and took him for his first ski trip. I don’t think it registered quite as much as sledding down a big hill would. But Dad had a good time!

Front gate in night snow

Garden pot in night snow

Jonah about to take his first cross country ski ride