wacky northwest weather, part II
yes, it’s been weird. again.
over the weekend, we got snow. starting about mid-afternoon sunday. don’t believe me?
that was only the beginning.
the following day, we got into the mid-30’s with some sun. then that night, another wave hit — you may have seen it on Monday Night Football. no, the Seahawks/Packers game was NOT in Green Bay – that was here in Seattle.
but while the city got lambasted in snow and little hail/ice pellets (i’ve heard them compared to “dippin’ dots” though i didn’t taste them, myself), up north by us it was just cold.
real cold. 17 degrees, for us, is extreme. our house isn’t insulated; apparently in 1915, they weren’t having these weather conditions, or they had a ready supply of wood for a pot-belly stove.
either way, i spent a lot of time monday night stoking the wood stove. and boy was i happy to find out, on my first day back from vacation, that i needed to fly out the following day to go to california for work.
i stayed at home for the first half of the day tuesday, getting things in order and packing. i journeyed into the office around 2, the roads were fine. (up north, again, didn’t get the snow then the freeze on monday, but south and east of the city got walloped).
from the office, i journeyed to the airport — waiting 40 minutes in 24 degree weather for a bus to arrive. passenger volume was eerily low — i walked right through the TSA checkpoint without waiting in line. it seems Alaska Airlines decided, since they didn’t fill 2 of the 3 flights from Seattle to Oakland that they had scheduled for that evening, to simply cancel the first two and rebook everyone on the 3rd. (glad i went to print out my boarding pass online — when i noticed the different flight # and time, i put 2+2 together). even then, the plane was only about 1/2 full. i guess not many of us wanted to brave the journey to the airport.
so, i spent the night in california, and carrie spent the night stoking the wood stove by herself. it was supposed to be down into the teens again in Everett… in Oakland, upper 30’s. it felt like a heat wave!
another wintery twist is hitting the seattle area now — warm, moist air is going to scour out the cold & dry. but before that happens – another mix. snow, then freezing rain, then rain, then the temps dip into the 20’s again overnight to put a nice crusty top onto the whole mess.
i fly back on thursday — hopefully thursday’s high approaching 40 means that the roads won’t be too treacherous for my return home from the airport. wish me luck!