Back in August when I visited Seattle for the first time I vividly recall asking somebody, “what possible weather problems could you have here other than getting a little wet?” As a guy from the Midwest I’ve seen my share of violent thunderstorms, tornado warnings, ice storms, oppressive summer heat, flooding, and piles of snow. So the “temperate” climate of the Northwest didn’t seem like that big of a deal. And as is often the case when I think I know a little bit about something . . .
I was wrong.
In the three and a half months I’ve been here there have been hurricane force winds that knocked out power to people for days at a time, a three week “arctic blast” that piled snow measured in feet in some places, and then last week, flooding so bad that parts of the city were literally turned into islands and a 20 mile stretch of the interstate heading south (where I was incidentally trying to go) was flooded out. (that, my friends, was a long sentence)
As an example, here’s a little pictorial metaphor. This is the HTF posing (with the shiny melon on display) in front of Snowqualmie Falls. It was a nice little hike down there and the falls emptied into a small pool and stream.
Well, this was the falls last week as seen from a helicopter. The place where I was standing before was about 40 feet underwater. And the whole valley was flooded out.
What’s the point to this? I’m not talking smack about other people’s weather ever again (unless you happen to be in Hawaii).
2 comments:
My head is a throbbing mass of pain and I should be asleep like any other sane person would be but I must have known you would post - it is like the whole world just can't get back into the swing of things after Christmas! What is it does everyone have like a life or something?
If I told you this already then so sorry - when my parents lived there they had a tree break in half and come through their roof. It went through the roof in the living room and through the wall into my brothers bedroom like an arrow.
After that and Kansas ice storms - I think small trees or trees kept far away from houses are nice.
Maybe you should keep a pair of water wings with you at all times just in case.
I think even Hawaii has had some crazy weather this season. I recall hearing a report of snow in Hawaii which I didn't think happened.
Just to add to your observation about meteorological goings-on... before I took my first trip to Seattle, everyone told me that it was overcast most days and rained a lot. Both of these things I love so I was excited to visit. The entire WEEK I was there... sunny every day and not a drop of moisture. Go figure!
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