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Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

isitsnowinginpdx.com

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Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#21

Post by isoskeles »

geocrasher wrote: post #9
bcherny wrote: post #6

I’m currently in Ashland, and was planning to drive up to Portland today. With strong snow all along the 5 [1], I’m thinking it’s better to bunker down for a few days before doing the trip. It’s normally a 4.5 hour drive, but with snow chains and delays I could see it being closer to 10. [1] https://www.tripcheck.com/DynamicReports/Report/RoadConditio...

Completely random question: Are you from California? The reason I ask is that you said "The 5". Edit: To those who said that's a SoCal thing: I Know. I got razzed endlessly when I moved to Reno from the Palm Springs area for saying "The 395, The 80", which are the only two freeways in the region lol.

I lived in Florida for a long time, and the only people I remember who didn’t say “The 95” etc. were news anchors. So I always take these discussions with a grain of salt, as I do not think CA is the only place where people talk like this, and I also don’t even believe there are any regional norms about it most of the time. I assume people just repeat something they read in an article about this phenomenon.

But I would be interested to see something well-researched on the topic.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#22

Post by bcherny »

geocrasher wrote: post #9
bcherny wrote: post #6

I’m currently in Ashland, and was planning to drive up to Portland today. With strong snow all along the 5 [1], I’m thinking it’s better to bunker down for a few days before doing the trip. It’s normally a 4.5 hour drive, but with snow chains and delays I could see it being closer to 10. [1] https://www.tripcheck.com/DynamicReports/Report/RoadConditio...

Completely random question: Are you from California? The reason I ask is that you said "The 5". Edit: To those who said that's a SoCal thing: I Know. I got razzed endlessly when I moved to Reno from the Palm Springs area for saying "The 395, The 80", which are the only two freeways in the region lol.

Yup! California, lived in both NorCal and SoCal.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#23

Post by danans »

Ccecil wrote: post #19
jhatax wrote: post #4

While it might not be super accurate, this simple site captures the way people panic in the PNW when it snows. It’s not uncommon to see cars abandoned on the side of roads (SR-520 in Washington, for example). Thanks for making me smile this morning.

Well...certain areas. I myself get excited when it is snowing and I get to drive. Seattle tends to lose it's mind when there is barely any snow...but as soon as you get past Issaquah people start driving like they have been in snow before. I remember one trip coming over the pass maintaining 50-60mph with a ton of snow...but as soon as I got down the hill everyone was driving 25mph on the freeway. Mostly the PNW comm…

> I remember one trip coming over the pass maintaining 50-60mph with a ton of snow...but as soon as I got down the hill everyone was driving 25mph on the freeway

Driving at 25mph in a ton of snow seems a lot more sensible than driving 50-60mph, especially if your vehicle isn't equipped with snow tires.

Snow related accidents are often caused by people not slowing down.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#24

Post by steelstraw »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #20
jhatax wrote: post #4

While it might not be super accurate, this simple site captures the way people panic in the PNW when it snows. It’s not uncommon to see cars abandoned on the side of roads (SR-520 in Washington, for example). Thanks for making me smile this morning.

Having grown up in the midwest and moved to the PNW as an adult, the PNW does not manage snowfall in populated areas. This is not a fault of the people but rather the infrastructure--there just aren't enough plows, de-icing agents, etc. In Ohio for example when winter storm warnings occur there will be armies of plow drivers mobilized and removing snow almost the minute it hits. They realize the sooner you can get it…

But is it worth having such infrastructure in the PNW? How often would it be used compared to Ohio?

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#25

Post by rootusrootus »

I've lived in the midwest, and in Portland. What many people don't get is that Portland has hills bigger than what people in the midwest would call a mountain.

Also, snow in late December is relatively rare. We missed a white Christmas by one day. Only have an inch here where I'm at, but hey, take what you can get.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#26

Post by geocrasher »

bcherny wrote: post #22
geocrasher wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely random question: Are you from California? The reason I ask is that you said "The 5". Edit: To those who said that's a SoCal thing: I Know. I got razzed endlessly when I moved to Reno from the Palm Springs area for saying "The 395, The 80", which are the only two freeways in the region lol.

Yup! California, lived in both NorCal and SoCal.

Your language gives you away lol. But as I edited my comment, it gave me away too. "The $freewaynumber" is almost exclusively as SoCal thing.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#27

Post by klyrs »

jhatax wrote: post #4

While it might not be super accurate, this simple site captures the way people panic in the PNW when it snows. It’s not uncommon to see cars abandoned on the side of roads (SR-520 in Washington, for example). Thanks for making me smile this morning.

During the first 'snowpocalypse' in Seattle, I noticed that the first two or three days were utter chaos. After that, people had either wrecked their cars or learned to drive, and the roads were nice and quiet (if slippy, but I was comfortable with that -- as I recall, the city only had two plows at the time). Since then, I try to stay off the road for the first few days of snow, to avoid the perennial novices.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#28

Post by xvedejas »

PopAlongKid wrote: post #14
geocrasher wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely random question: Are you from California? The reason I ask is that you said "The 5". Edit: To those who said that's a SoCal thing: I Know. I got razzed endlessly when I moved to Reno from the Palm Springs area for saying "The 395, The 80", which are the only two freeways in the region lol.

That would be specifically a SoCal (southern California) linguistic register. Many Californians would simply refer to I-5 (U.S. Interstate Highway 5)

Sacramento too, I think (and maybe other parts of the central valley)

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#30

Post by williamstein »

klyrs wrote: post #27
jhatax wrote: post #4

While it might not be super accurate, this simple site captures the way people panic in the PNW when it snows. It’s not uncommon to see cars abandoned on the side of roads (SR-520 in Washington, for example). Thanks for making me smile this morning.

During the first 'snowpocalypse' in Seattle, I noticed that the first two or three days were utter chaos. After that, people had either wrecked their cars or learned to drive, and the roads were nice and quiet (if slippy, but I was comfortable with that -- as I recall, the city only had two plows at the time). Since then, I try to stay off the road for the first few days of snow, to avoid the perennial novices.

This week with the extended cold is going to be interesting.
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