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Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

isitsnowinginpdx.com

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Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#61

Post by FourthProtocol »

shanecleveland wrote: post #52
rootusrootus wrote: post #25

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.

Not to mention the limited resources municipalities have to deal with these events, since they just don't happen that often. It is more common to see 4WD vehicles abandoned in ditches because they didn't realize 4WD doesn't help with braking or going down a hill. Wanna learn how to drive in the snow? Tackle an unplowed, 45 degree hill littered with vehicles that didn't make it.

Research is also useful -

The first key to effective snow driving is a light throttle and choosing the correct tyre. Driving in snow requires a tall tyre with a narrow section-width. This allows the tyre to cut through the crust and obtain traction on the hard surface beneath the snow (the opposite of sand tyres)...

And so on. I used to teach this stuff -- https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/offroading/Driving/Snow.html

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#62

Post by filmgirlcw »

I grew up in Atlanta Georgia, a place that is notoriously bad at dealing with snow [1], and never thought I would live in a place worse at snow than Atlanta. Then, after nearly a decade in New York City (a place that has snow on lock. In Brooklyn, it’ll snow 18 inches and the sidewalks and roadways will be clear by 5am. And the city is even better!), I moved to Seattle.

Seattle is worse at snow than Atlanta, something I didn’t think was possible. I avoided most of the 2019 snowpacalypse because I was in Australia (I smartly changed my flight and flew to LA early so I wasn’t stranded in the airport when the snow really hit like some of my colleagues…spending a day at Disneyland instead of worrying about making my connection to my 15-hour flight to Sydney was one of the smarter travel decisions I’ve ever made), but I was in Bellevue of all places before it really came down for a work-offsite, but it was icy and there were drifts, and it was shocking to me how poorly even the commercial areas dealt with ice and snow. I had to have my husband bring my snow boots from NYC to where I was staying 12 miles away (at The W) so that I wouldn’t break my neck walking across the street from the hotel to the venue of the off-site. I understand the lack of infrastructure, but it was again, worse than Atlanta. And Atlanta is a city that doesn’t have mountains/ski resorts nearby.

Last year, it snowed a bit and they were downright negligent about clearing out the snow and ice in front of my luxury apartment building/the busy sidewalk, making it nearly impossible to even leave (even by car, let alone if you were trying to walk). A lot of that was on the building owner, but the city was equally negligent with its lack of attempts to make streets accessible by foot or by car. A girl at UW died in 2019 because the school both didn’t put out proper signage for ice and didn’t do the rational thing and try to de-ice campus.

Like I said, I never thought I’d see a city handle snow worse than Atlanta. But the PNW (and Seattle especially) certainly does.

[1]: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/atlanta-snow...

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#63

Post by selectodude »

tzs wrote: post #57
vvanders wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

West WA doesn't have the infrastructure to clear the roads(which makes sense given how infrequently it snows) combine that with some steep areas and it's fairly predictable what happens.

I don't know if this is accurate but I recall an article that said another significant difference between western WA snow and snow in the states that get seriously cold for a long time in winter is that the ground in western WA usually doesn't freeze like it does in the colder states. When snow falls in western WA, the fall at the start gets melted by the ground, and the refreezes as the following fall hits it. This…

> When snow falls in western WA, the fall at the start gets melted by the ground, and the refreezes as the following fall hits it. This results in an ice layer covered in snow.

Which is why cities that competently deal with snow begin salting immediately when it starts snowing.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#64

Post by brewdad »

Ccecil wrote: post #42
danans wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

There was only about .5-1" of snow at the bottom...while on the top of the pass was easily 4-6" on the road. Agreed...drive the speed which you feel safe. The point was that to the people who don't see snow "any snow" is unsafe...meanwhile...those who drive in it regularly don't even notice. Just like the amount of snow which shuts down most of the nation doesn't even seem to make the news when it happens here.

I grew up in Michigan where snow is a regular occurance. Driving on ice at any speed feels safe, right up until the point it isn't. A lesson that is learned by dozens of drivers every winter who line the ditches of I-94 in their 4WD vehicles that lack 4-wheel stop on ice.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#65

Post by shanecleveland »

dgfitz wrote: post #60
shanecleveland wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the limited resources municipalities have to deal with these events, since they just don't happen that often. It is more common to see 4WD vehicles abandoned in ditches because they didn't realize 4WD doesn't help with braking or going down a hill. Wanna learn how to drive in the snow? Tackle an unplowed, 45 degree hill littered with vehicles that didn't make it.

> Wanna learn how to drive in the snow? Tackle an unplowed, 45 degree hill littered with vehicles that didn't make it. This isn’t great advice unless you want your insurance premiums to go up. If you want to learn to drive in the snow, drive in the snow. Get a feel for your vehicle. Drive slower than you think you need to. Know your route ahead of time and avoid inclines if possible. Don’t play pinball with your car…

I wasn't actually suggesting people do that. I'm saying that many people who claim to know how to drive in the snow come from places where it snows a lot, but they don't have Western Washington hilly terrain and their streets are regularly plowed, sanded, etc. Hence, they have not actually driven in the snow. The safest way to drive in the snow is to stay home.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#66

Post by filmgirlcw »

echelon wrote: post #15
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.

This is something that really grinds my gears with the movie "Baby Driver". Edgar Wright went to incredible trouble to set the film in Atlanta. It features Atlanta landmarks, culture, food, and dialect. It feels quintessentially Atlantan. Despite that effort, they're constantly referring to highways and interstates with the definite article. "The 75", "the 85", "The Buford Highway". We don't do that here, and it soun…

Totally! It’s 85 and 75 and 316!

What bothered me more was how one chase scene (I can’t remember which one) went in like the wrong direction. I love the film, but seeing them get so many details about Atlanta almost right and then get location/direction stuff wrong was pretty funny for someone born and raised in Atlanta. I imagine it’s how LA people must feel all the time!

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#67

Post by shanecleveland »

FourthProtocol wrote: post #61
shanecleveland wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the limited resources municipalities have to deal with these events, since they just don't happen that often. It is more common to see 4WD vehicles abandoned in ditches because they didn't realize 4WD doesn't help with braking or going down a hill. Wanna learn how to drive in the snow? Tackle an unplowed, 45 degree hill littered with vehicles that didn't make it.

Research is also useful - The first key to effective snow driving is a light throttle and choosing the correct tyre. Driving in snow requires a tall tyre with a narrow section-width. This allows the tyre to cut through the crust and obtain traction on the hard surface beneath the snow (the opposite of sand tyres)... And so on. I used to teach this stuff -- https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/offroading/Driving/Snow.html

Yep. Though it does not snow a ton here in Western Washington, we go skiing in the Cascade passes. So I have deducted snow tires for our vehicles. They are the biggest difference maker in my opinion.

Re: Is It Snowing in Portland, Oregon?

#69

Post by waynecochran »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #62

I grew up in Atlanta Georgia, a place that is notoriously bad at dealing with snow [1], and never thought I would live in a place worse at snow than Atlanta. Then, after nearly a decade in New York City (a place that has snow on lock. In Brooklyn, it’ll snow 18 inches and the sidewalks and roadways will be clear by 5am. And the city is even better!), I moved to Seattle. Seattle is worse at snow than Atlanta, somethin…

Be careful not to conflate those west of the Cascades (esp. Seattle and Portland) with those on the east side (e.g. Bend, Spokane). Those who who live(d) east of the mountains handle snow just fine.
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