The Monday after Thanksgiving, November 27, Seattle had one of the worst ice storms in recent memory. Of course, as a midwesterner, I’m obliged to turn my nose up and say “It was little more than a dusting of snow,” but even then I couldn’t escape a 3.5 hour commute home that night. I stayed home from work the next day.
Fast forward to Thursday evening, December 14, when Seattle was hit by one of the worst wind storm’s in Seattle’s history. My lights were flickering all Thursday night, so I expected to wake up without power. (I did.) As I contemplated whether to go into work, I thought, “Let’s be rational. The only time all of Omaha lost power was during a huge blizzard came through. That was declared as a national disaster, and even then, I was only without power for half a day. Surely Microsoft has power.”
Surely I was wrong. Most of the Greater Seattle area was without power (more than a million homes), and Microsoft was part of that. Power is coming on slowly but surely, though the Kirkland area where I live is still without power. Thankfully Microsoft is up and running, so I’m able to get warm, charge my phone, and blog a little bit.
Whatever is causing this run of “worst storms in Seattle’s history” (did you move to Seattle around Thanksgiving? It might be you…), I hope it moves on soon. In the meantime, one more desperate appeal to Seattle drivers (as if yet another post would make a difference), take heed:
If a stop signal at an intersection is not working, treat it as a four way stop! No exceptions!
And just in case Seattlites aren’t really sure how to treat a four way stop (don’t put it past them, I’ve had about 20 close calls in 24 hours), right of way proceeds to the right. Each direction takes turns, one at a time. Do not go when opposing traffic starts to move; if someone is turning left, you will hit them, and they do have the right of way. And speaking as someone who lives on a side street, stop lights at minor intersections do, in fact, still count as stop lights.
Best wishes to those without power. Stay warm!!!
Interesting… ice and cold in Seattle and Minnesota is relatively warm and still somewhat green. Where’s the snow dammit?
meanwhile it’s 40s and 50s this week in Connecticut. crazy.
-cries- Alright, alright, Seattle is the coldest city in the continental 48th, you don’t have to tell me twice! I went to bed shivering and crying the past two nights! :(
OK, that’s a bit melodramatic, I have lots of blankets. Plus, the power’s back for me now… yay!!