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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.

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.

gautamdivgi 5y ago
Chicago was a balmy 55 on Christmas Eve. It was in the lower to mid 40’s on Christmas Day. No white Christmas here. Just some rain.
- mym1990 5y ago
  Nashville was an extremely pleasant 75, was fairly surprising!
- justinator 5y ago
  That's beatnik poetry right there! [0] Chicago was a balmy 55 on Christmas Eve in the lower to mid 40’s on Christmas Day No white Christmas here Only RAIN! [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fpH1cnAPIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fpH1cnAPIM
- b9a2cab5 5y ago
  Interestingly I feel California has gotten colder, especially southern California. It used to stay around 50-60 in winter, now we regularly go down to 30-35 lows and 35-45 highs.
- thehappypm 5y ago
  And Boston has been perfectly seasonal, snow on Christmas Eve.
akiselev 5y ago
People don't get climate period. I was rather surprised to find out that my parents get a snow storm every year in late February or early March that dumps 1-3 inches of snow that takes several days to melt. They live not 40 minutes from La Jolla, a city in Southern California known for year round perfect weather. They're barely at 3,000 feet elevation and as far as I know, the snow line in the Sierra Nevada mountains, even further north, is over twice that [1]. The nearest town a few miles away and a few hundred feet lower receives no snow whatsoever so we've been completely puzzled by the phenomenon. The funny thing is, I can't find any information about it online - it seems to be a very localized phenomenon in a sparsely populated exurban neighborhood and the locals just shrug about it. [1] https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/11/899/html https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/11/899/html
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  You are misunderstanding that paper.Snow <3000 feet in the Sierra is common. The paper looks at specific locations over time, not the Sierra at large. some locations in the paper have a snow Line <500 feet. I agree that most people don't care about climate mechanics, but it is well understood.
shanecleveland 5y ago
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.
- dgfitz 5y ago
  > 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 down a hill full of other cars.
  - shanecleveland 5y ago
    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.
- FourthProtocol 5y ago
  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 https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/offroading/Driving/Snow.html
  - shanecleveland 5y ago
    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.
im_down_w_otp 5y ago
The snow is also much more wet and slick in the PNW along the Puget Sound and down the Willamette River Valley than it is in many other places that receive regular annual snowfall. Mostly because when it snows in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, etc. the temperature is hovering right at the melting point, so the snow compacts to a slick ice-like form quickly. Even up at the ski resorts on places like Mt. Hood the snow is damp and heavy feeling compared to the crisp and fluffy snow in the Rockies, for example. That said, having spent most of my life in Portland and also most of my life driving in the mountains in the winter to ski & snowboard, I can confirm that people in Portland can't drive in the snow. It's almost as amusing as people driving in San Diego in the rain. :-)
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  I did OK in the snow on the hills there with a standard/stick shift (though front wheel drive) Jetta TDI, although it did have traction control
  - selimthegrim 5y ago
    I should add this was Feb 2014 for context
noduerme 5y ago
Every single time it snows, Chicago transplants get out and go "OH NO! You guys don't know how to drive in the snow! Look at me! I'm from Chicago!" And then they slide straight off the side of a hill or backwards down a driveway. It just keeps happening because there are new ones every year.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
  When I lived in Chicago I would drive past at least 5 cars (not an exaggeration) in the ditch after the first major ice in my 40 minute commute.

gautamdivgi 5y ago

Chicago was a balmy 55 on Christmas Eve. It was in the lower to mid 40’s on Christmas Day. No white Christmas here. Just some rain.

mym1990 5y ago
Nashville was an extremely pleasant 75, was fairly surprising!
justinator 5y ago
That's beatnik poetry right there! [0] Chicago was a balmy 55 on Christmas Eve in the lower to mid 40’s on Christmas Day No white Christmas here Only RAIN! [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fpH1cnAPIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fpH1cnAPIM
b9a2cab5 5y ago
Interestingly I feel California has gotten colder, especially southern California. It used to stay around 50-60 in winter, now we regularly go down to 30-35 lows and 35-45 highs.
thehappypm 5y ago
And Boston has been perfectly seasonal, snow on Christmas Eve.

akiselev 5y ago

People don't get climate period. I was rather surprised to find out that my parents get a snow storm every year in late February or early March that dumps 1-3 inches of snow that takes several days to melt. They live not 40 minutes from La Jolla, a city in Southern California known for year round perfect weather. They're barely at 3,000 feet elevation and as far as I know, the snow line in the Sierra Nevada mountains, even further north, is over twice that [1]. The nearest town a few miles away and a few hundred feet lower receives no snow whatsoever so we've been completely puzzled by the phenomenon. The funny thing is, I can't find any information about it online - it seems to be a very localized phenomenon in a sparsely populated exurban neighborhood and the locals just shrug about it. [1] https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/11/899/html https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/11/899/html

s1artibartfast 5y ago
You are misunderstanding that paper.Snow <3000 feet in the Sierra is common. The paper looks at specific locations over time, not the Sierra at large. some locations in the paper have a snow Line <500 feet. I agree that most people don't care about climate mechanics, but it is well understood.

shanecleveland 5y ago

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.

dgfitz 5y ago
> 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 down a hill full of other cars.
- shanecleveland 5y ago
  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.
FourthProtocol 5y ago
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 https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/offroading/Driving/Snow.html
- shanecleveland 5y ago
  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.

im_down_w_otp 5y ago

The snow is also much more wet and slick in the PNW along the Puget Sound and down the Willamette River Valley than it is in many other places that receive regular annual snowfall. Mostly because when it snows in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, etc. the temperature is hovering right at the melting point, so the snow compacts to a slick ice-like form quickly. Even up at the ski resorts on places like Mt. Hood the snow is damp and heavy feeling compared to the crisp and fluffy snow in the Rockies, for example. That said, having spent most of my life in Portland and also most of my life driving in the mountains in the winter to ski & snowboard, I can confirm that people in Portland can't drive in the snow. It's almost as amusing as people driving in San Diego in the rain. :-)

selimthegrim 5y ago
I did OK in the snow on the hills there with a standard/stick shift (though front wheel drive) Jetta TDI, although it did have traction control
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  I should add this was Feb 2014 for context

noduerme 5y ago

Every single time it snows, Chicago transplants get out and go "OH NO! You guys don't know how to drive in the snow! Look at me! I'm from Chicago!" And then they slide straight off the side of a hill or backwards down a driveway. It just keeps happening because there are new ones every year.

SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
When I lived in Chicago I would drive past at least 5 cars (not an exaggeration) in the ditch after the first major ice in my 40 minute commute.