Snow Falling in Northwest Washington

Well, winter weather has finally arrived in northwest Washington state, and I am dreading it's arrival.

Now, I love the snow. I really do. Some of my fomdest childhood memories are of playing in the snow, and the arrival of snow in my Puget Sound community put an exclamation point on the Christmas season. During my early adulthood, I lived in central Washington (10 years). Each winter during that time, we typically were snowed upon from Halloween through mid March (one year, we got snow in late April!)... Each winter would bring about 6-10 feet (feet!) of snow accumulation, and the resulting sales of snow removal folks would be an advertising boon for the radio station I worked at each year. People in central Washington knew how to drive in the snow, and school-age kids and their parents dutifully tuned into our station for school closure/delay information. It was the kind of Winter Wonderland that would make a person smile.

Ten years ago, after moving back to western Washington to work at my current radio station, I learned how different snow affects people west of the Cascade Mountains...

For starters, people in western Washington have no clue how to drive in the snow. Think of all the tips your driving instructor gave you for winter weather driving, then throw them away. Far away. The collective Puget Sound populace is so accustomed to rainy road conditions (which, by the way, they know how to deal with very well) that they seem to think snow is just like rain. A massive pile-up on Interstate 5 today that has blocked all lanes in the Stanwood area (about half-way up the state's main highway corridor) is testament to the inability of the common western Washington driver to function below 35 degrees Farenheit. In some of the major metropolitan areas of Western Washington, the inability of motorists to drive for conditions, coupled with lots of poor city planning (residential areas on steep hills, etc.) tend to grind those areas to a halt when so little as 1/8th of an inch is on the ground.

What burns me the most is the school closure/delay situation. While in central Washington, folks would simply listen to the radio for the information they need, but students and parents in western Washington, particularly in my neck of the woods, generally seem to think that making any effort to listen to the radio for the information they need is either beneath them or is just not part of their thinking process. As western Washington can't deal with snow properly, I'll end up giving a very long list of school closures and delays at the slightest hint of the white stuff. What typically happens is, once I get done reading the list on the air that I worked my buns off to gather, I get phone call after phone call from people who:

1. Were listening to the radio, but weren't paying attention while I was reading the list.
2. Weren't listening to the radio.
3. Say they aren't listening to the radio, while you can hear our station in the background on their end.
4. Students who aren't listening for school updates, but figure that they can get an excuse to stay home for the day by calling the radio station.
   

During the morning shift, the station staff is our 87-year-old sports director and me, and I'm the only one answering the phones. Trust me, folks, I've got better things to do with my time than answer your phone calls (like, for example, gathering the information you're wondering about to get it on the air!)... If you want to find out about your school, please listen to the local radio station! If I had a dime for every time a school district couldn't get through to our station because the phone lines were jammed with people who aren't listening to the radio for updates... well, you get the idea. This is my biggest beef about being in this business in this part of the state. During winter weather conditions, radio stations provide information on the air, not via the phone, dammit. So, please, don't pick up the phone - listen to your local station for the information you seek.

OK, I'm off my soapbox (for now).