The Worst Winter Ever

Ok, so it’s only January 11th, 2007 right now. And I know, there’s probably still a couple months ahead of us until The Worst Winter Ever (TWWE) is over. And honestly? The only thing I think could change my mind about this winter? Was if a tropical wind blew through here and all of a sudden it was Hawaii. Yes, not Hawaii like weather. Not just 82 degrees and humid, but the darn thing actually brought the beaches, waves, and how about some of the luaus too? That would nice for those of us who have witnessed first hand TWWE.

There may be some people that might question me in saying, “how is it possible that this was the worst winter ever?”

Let me go through and point out some of the differences between this winter and winters past:

October:

October had nothing wrong with it. Everything was basically normal. I really had no complaints. We did drop below 30 degrees a few times. Not unheard of. This is your so called “calm before the storm”. You can’t really include October in the winter months because I consider it as one of the fall months. So, I’m not really sure why I included it here. Maybe I just want my blog to be as content-happy as possible. Or keep up with my preset standards of writing way too much to explain basically nothing.

November AKA “Rain”:

The rain didn’t stop. And it wasn’t just “Seattle rain”. Because Seattle rain is nice. Seattle rain is mid 40s to mid 50s in temperature, and a light drizzle or mist. The rain is so unaffecting it’s like when you get caught at the grocery store in the produce isle and they decide to “wash” the vegetables (supposedly to keep them fresh or clean, or maybe both – how that works, I have no idea). People can function in that rain. Sure it’s a little gloomy, and yes, now the days are starting to get shorter, but everyone is excited for Thanksgiving and the coming holidays. This year was different. Instead of that nice, light mist, we received down pours. Yes, plural. It was like God was doing his dishes, cleaning out one of his pots he used to make soup for all of his children, (or maybe just one hungry one) and was filling it up with water to rinse and he dumped it on all of us, Seattle. God’s in-sink-erator. By the 15th of November I was thinking to myself, “this has got to be some sort of record”. And sure enough, by the 16th it was. Not even barely past half way through the month and we had already broken the record for the wettest month recorded in Seattle history.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003433002_weather16m.html

(Article to rain record on the 19th of November)

But the weather doesn’t know records. I understand that records are meant to be broken. But typically records are just barely edged out. This one was crushed. In my lifetime, I’m unsure if I’ll ever see this again. Just as a little excerpt, I thought this was interesting: “Forks, annually the wettest place in Washington gets an average of 17.72" in November and currently has 28.24". (http://climate.washington.edu/events/2006NovRain.html) Only 6 inches off of double what they normally receive. And everyone knows what almost 1” of precipitation per day can do to an area…flood it. There were plenty of people who had to evacuate their homes because the water from the surrounding rivers had come up too high. What usually were puddles on the streets had now become ponds. Back when I lived out in Issaquah, I remember driving through carnation and thinking how it would a total swamp if that place ever got enough rain. And sure enough, on the news, there was carnation. People traveling by boat on what used to be roads…

Grisly death story: A woman was trapped in her basement while it flooded. She screamed for help as the basement filled with water until it filled to the ceiling. Water pressure kept the door to the basement closed on her so she was not able to get out. Neighbors heard her screams and called 911. They tried to resuscitate her when they finally got to her, but were unsuccessful. Drowning in your own basement? Ridiculous.

December AKA “Snow and Wind”:

Near the end of November is when we started getting the snow. Snow around here typically isn’t that bad. I’ve seen some bad snow before, but back then to me it was, “AWESOME SCHOOL CLOSURE SNOW!!!” The snow isn’t really that mentionable, seeing as I received at the most 6-8” at my house which is almost laughable to many other states/countries during winter. However, the cold front that moved in immediately after the snow was no fun at all. All of that snow turned to ice on the road ways + All of the transplants from California + All of the native idiots from here in their big bad AWD/4X4 SUVs who think they can tackle any weather? Rubber on ice is rubber on ice. No matter what car you drive. Anyway, it makes for interesting times on the road. I remember reading in the Times about a guy who stayed in his ’98 Mustang for 18 hours overnight because he got stuck on a hill…just so it wouldn’t get stolen – and laughing hysterically about it. 1) No one wants your car buddy. 2) If they wanted your car, do you think they could go far in these conditions?

Normally I can handle myself quite well in the “cold” with just my fleece coat, thick pants and my leather shoes. Not this winter. I remember going on to weather.com in early December and seeing that it was 8 degrees outside. But it felt like ZERO. And that wasn’t just my opinion. It was stated on weather.com.

By mid December, that was done and gone. And finally I was thinking that we might have some “normal” winter weather. You know, the stuff I mentioned earlier. We had gone about 8 days without any problems…until the giant wind storm hit. And yes, again, (hopefully you’re getting the theme by now) every winter we get wind. Sure, we may lose power for a day or have the lights flicker…but we once again, broke a record. It was the highest wind gusts ever recorded in Washington state history. 69 MPH. If you read through the following link, there are just ridiculous things in there: Planes damaged by high winds. PLANES. Cop cars damaged after roof flies off of dealership. And it’s kind of odd how blatant and boring they write what would normally be interesting stuff.

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/4921736.html

Grisly death story: A couple was driving down a heavily wooded highway when they stopped because a large branch was blocking the road. While the man was out of the car trying to move the debris out of the roadway, another tree fell (from the high winds) and crushed both of them. Sometimes it’s just your time to go.

And my personal story? Wind knocks down trees and sends branches (and other debris) flying. Which in turn knocks down power lines, which in turn means that I have no power or heat. Me and a million and a half other people were in the dark. In December I was without power for 6 days total. 4 of which were right after this storm. I have never had my power out for more than 3 days. And the best part of it was? Literally 200 yards from where I lived, those people had power after 2 days. So those extra 2 days were excruciating. When you sit in a house that’s 40 degrees you realize how lucky you are to have power. And being without power those 4 days? Got me sick. Well I suppose it didn’t help that I was still going about my life normally as if the power wasn’t out. Taking a shower and then jumping out of the tub to a freezing house can’t be good for your health. Playing football in the frozen mud in 30 degree temps can’t be good for your health. And the unfortunate thing? It wasn’t a 24 hour sickness. Almost a month later, I’m still coughing from it. Oh and Christmas? Both Michelle and I were sick. New Year’s? Michelle was still sick. I got my dad and my sister sick too. Overall, a successful sickness. *sarcastic*

January AKA “Ok, this can stop now”:

I’m sitting here, at work. It was 23 degrees coming in to work. 2 people out of my 8 person department are not coming in today because of the snow and ice on the roadway. Already 10 days in, I’ve been without power for 3 of them. When you pay almost $150 a day to live in your own home, it’s extremely frustrating to have to stay with family in the guest room because it’s just too cold to stay in your own house. With most winters, I’m ready for them to end by February. Move this one to today, January 11th. I am ready for this winter to end now.

Where’s that Hawaiian breeze? One of the managers here wrapped his cube in posters of Arizona to make himself feel warmer while he was at work. Sometimes, the mind and body can only take enough…