Seattle Times: "Warming climate may prove costly for state, study warns".
Cold weather proves to be costly too. And schools all over the Puget Sound are closed again, all because of a couple of inches of snow. When I was growing up in Wisconsin they never called a snow day unless it was a blizzard or if there were feet of snow on the ground. If you're having to miss work today to stay home with your kids again, blame local government for being inadequately prepared. Ron Sims should take the real threat of cold weather as seriously as he takes the "growing threat of global warming".
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 11, 2007 10:44 AM | Email ThisIf it is too dangerous to eat peanut butter in the schools, or trans-fats, or to play tag in the playground, how can we possibly condone allowing children to venture out of the house when there is 1/2 inch of frost on the ground. They might slip and fall! You must be a heartless Republican heterosexual white guy.
Posted by: Steve on January 11, 2007 10:36 AMThe nightly remote broadcasts from Snoqualmie Summit are awe-inspiring. The perpetual reports of fallen trees, along with persons who were there recreating the sounds of those falling trees with their own lips, leave me with a feeling of connection. I now know how my forefathers felt, glued to the radio, when they heard Edward R. Murrow in the midst of the Blitz say "This is London."
Posted by: Tyler Durden on January 11, 2007 11:08 AMI almost always agree with you. I do not, however, on this post, unless you you are speaking tongue in cheek.
It is up to the individual to make the appropriate choices in preparation for stormy weather and other bumps in the road. We complain about taxes and then turn around and demand the government wipe our a$$es. So give up the vacation to Cabo and buy an all weather vehicle. Trade a few trips to the mall for a generator. Forgo the Starbucks for a month or three and purchase a back-up source of heat. And if you can't drive in an inch of snow, catch a ride with someone who can and offer to fill their tank. They might even offer to pick you up the following day!
Posted by: Saltherring on January 11, 2007 11:57 AMThis isn't about Democrats and Republicans, it's about effete latte-lappers who prefer Chicken-Little responses to preparedness.
And the only reason Ron Sims is a Democrat is because he scored too low on the GOP intelligence test.
Posted by: sro on January 11, 2007 12:01 PMI suspect that bit of context would conflict with his AGENDA so it didn't make it in. Alternatively, he didn't think of it which leads one to ask: why we should rely on his reporting?
Posted by: Stan on January 11, 2007 01:10 PMI grew up in a part of the South that had snow about as often as we now do in the Puget Sound region. And, it usually melted in a few days, just as it usually does here. There were a few plows and sand trucks out -- to make it possible for essential travel to be done. But, non-essential travel on the two or three days affected by the snow was not done.
I lived for 3 years in Rhode Island. Imagine my surprise to find that the little residential street -- a long way off the major road -- where I lived was plowed at 6 a.m. that morning before I even began to shovel my driveway. Unless you grew up where such things didn't ever happen, you might not be able to imagine it.
Later, I learned that the governments in Rhode Island spent as much or more to remove snow from the roads and highways than they spent to maintain the pavement. (And it showed in places.)
For the Puget Sound region to have the snow-removal capability that exists in places like Rhode Island and Wisconsin, we would need to have tons of equipment sitting around for 355 to 360 days a year and lots of temp employees ready to come in during the snow and work for a day or so.
It just isn't practical. So, I guess you Northerners will just have to learn to drive in snow, just as we Southerners had to do. It won't all be removed before you need to go out in it.
As for the schools, they can readily take a couple of days off once or twice a year because of snow. It's not the litigation danger -- it's the danger to the people that would result from trying to get to and from school rather than waiting for the roads to clear.
Posted by: Micajah on January 11, 2007 01:12 PMActually I tend to regard such articles as contemptuous of the audience they were intended for and skip over atticles topped by headlines which contain "may" arguments. However if I do read them I simply mentally substitute "may not" every where that "may" appears when reading the article. This method does not change the meaning of any statement contained therein one iota.
Posted by: JDH on January 11, 2007 01:48 PMI also remember my neighbor down the road putt-putting into our property on his Farm-All tractor after nearly every big storm, plowing out driveways for all his immediate neighbors. In all my years of school there, I can remember school being canceled maybe a half dozen times at most.
Posted by: Maximus on January 11, 2007 02:33 PMI also remember my neighbor from down the road putt-putting into our property on his Farm-All tractor after nearly every big storm, plowing out driveways for all his immediate neighbors. In all my years of school there, I can remember school being canceled a half dozen times at most.
Posted by: Maximus on January 11, 2007 02:35 PMUsing the methodology that most Glogal Warming alarmists seem to prefer - since it was ~20 degrees this morning when I woke up and it is currently ~ 35 degrees if we don't do something by the middle of next week it it will be 125 degrees and rising rapidly.
Posted by: JDH on January 11, 2007 03:43 PMUnless people's lives depend on your job, I think it's prudent to stay home, especially if you don't have chains and the roads are not sanded.
Posted by: Organization Man on January 11, 2007 05:21 PMI drive extra defensively on snow days to account for all of the other idiots, but view these days as a welcome opportunity to provide experience for those less experienced snow drivers who have the sense to use this as an opportunity to learn snow driving.
And for those too stupid or coddled to learn, let the chips fall where they may.
Posted by: Jeff B. on January 11, 2007 11:31 PMEspecially amusing is the abandonment of the luxury automobiles at the first sign of snow.
Posted by: pbj on January 11, 2007 11:33 PMThat said, residents really need to be more prepared themselves. All the forecasters said the snow was going to arrive around 4 pm, so people who had long commutes that involved hills should have gotten out before they did.
Posted by: Frank Black on January 12, 2007 10:21 AMThe global warming hysterics are hooked to a financial trough and will go to any lengths increase the flow of money. Michael Crichton was right about that.
Posted by: KS on January 13, 2007 09:26 PM