Comments

1
Dogs and Cats living together?
2
A PLANET WHERE APES EVOLVE FROM MEN???
3
Coffee is for closers!

What are we talking about again?
4
every winter here it's non-stop hilarity.
having grown up in upstate NY (right between lake ontario and the adirondacks) and even spending some post-college years in MI, i can't believe how people react to snow here.
it's almost as bad as FL.

i can't tell you how many people i've seen drop 600 dollars on snow tires (in addition to waiting in line for HOURS at les schwab amidst all the other frantic drivers) before they even consider DRIVING SLOWER and attempting to be more cautious. god forbid they find an alternative mode of transportation that day.
nope, first thought: "i need to wrap my car in fuckin chains! sure i never go to mount hood or anything, but we're talking an INCH of snow!!! i better keep these puppies on for the next 6 months!"
seriously though, most of have witnessed at least a couple of cars that just hangout downtown/inner SE and ride on studded snow tires all year long.

"hey the roads are covered in ice and everyone is crashing.... i bet it's still a good idea to drive up SW vista and SW park. i'm SURE i won't crash like the other 2 dozen cars on the side of the road!!"

seriously though, people here FREAK.
public schools close down with a mere rumor of ice or snow.
some days i just stand out on the side walk and wait for the entertainment.
you might not think of SE 20th and Belmont as a hot spot for wintery skids/crashes/fishtails/non-sense, but it's a good one.
5
I also grew up in upstate NY and I love how Portland deals with the rare snow: It just stops for a couple of days, no worries. Snow siesta. Why not?
6
Eric: you are, as usual, overreacting. You're just like my damn girlfriend... Nobody is dying, nobody is stranded, and you will surely manage to blaze a desperate trail to your local coffee shop for that triple latte made with micro-roasted, fair trade, shade grown beans from some community supported plantation in Ethiopia. Unless the barista has deemed the weather too severe to leave the house, in which case I guess you're just fucked.

b: You're absolutely right, all of our neighbors are pussies. They've never had to deal with "lake effect," and they deserve whatever comes to them. That said, the rise coming up to Belmont and 18th can be a little hairy in these conditions...
7
I just walked about 4 miles home, and I survived. I must be invincible, or from NE Ohio, at least.
8
If you think this is bad, you should see how L.A. reacts when it rains, and the car accidents triple.
9
There is always the " dude, i'm from the east man and shit, you pussies" guy. ALWAYS.

Just let us pussies have our vacation ! Haters!
10
I live about 500 feet up in a remote area sort of close to Powell Butte.

As of right now I'd guess we have about 4 inches. I didn't venture "into town" to see what's what.

I'm really fucking looking forward to driving in tomorrow to make sure you all have papers to pick up this week. Dicks.
11
The east has SNOW. Portland usually closes up when we have ICE. That's the difference.
12
The other big difference is that in the east they dump a bunch of salt on the roads when there is any snow or ice. We do not in part because of trying to not damage the salmon habitat more than we already have. We were visiting my parents for Christmas three years ago in Columbus when a snow/ice storm hit. Half the town was without power trying to find a generator or hotel room. The other half went about their frantic Christmas shopping as if nothing odd were happening. At no point were the roads impassable because they were covered in salt.

I agree, people get a little frantic here. I tend to just hang out at home mostly because I have been rear ended by a Portland drive when there was a hint of snow.
13
dubie -

give me a break!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America…

just look up "northeast ice storm" or anything of the sort in google, and you'll see that the east coast is plagued with ice storms on a regular basis.
the one in 1998 is one in particular that is nearly impossible to top.

west coast winters = cake walk.
be thankful.
14
Last night I sat around with two dudes from Michigan who were all "whatever, this is nothing" and I was like "IT IS SO SOMETHING BECAUSE WE ARE NOT IN MICHIGAN! WE ARE IN OREGON AND WE CANNOT DEAL WITH EXTREME WEATHER!!" It's the same in August when the temperature tops 100 and everybody loses their shit and the people from Arizona are like "psh, whatever." We live here because we ARE pussies about cold/heat.

But we don't complain about the rain. Non-natives do that.
15
I have two kids - one born in Portland and one not. The Portland born child will actually complain about it being "too sunny".
16
Prediction for the future:

Me being insanely annoyed by all transplants that get a twinkle in their eye when they say "shit I'm from _____, this isn't anything. I love watching how Portland people freak out over snow/ice hahaha"

Also, I'm from Wyoming. This isn't shit. I love watching how Portland people lose their collective shit (outside all of us transplants from ______) when it snows hahaha!
17
One should never spend time with people from Michigan.
19
bring on the rain. i've been loving it for years.
20
Are you seriously talking about why Portlanders freak out about the snow and ice? Its actually really simple... its just a reaction to being in a new/uncommon situation. Like when people from the east are like "Oregon is so cool" Its just them freaking out cause they aren't surrounded by assholes.
22
We just moved here from Jackson, WY. And while yes, this is pretty funny, the lack of Portland preparedness to deal with snow/ice makes total sense. No non-stop plows, sandtrucks on every road, and not EVERYONE (although still lots) owns a AWD Subaru, AWD Audi, Volvo, or Toyota Tacoma 4WD with sandbags in the back. (For the most part there's a Subaru per person in Jackson...)
I'm taking it in as a reward, that as a school employee I finally got a week of snow days. In Jackson I braved the big snow dumps, the avalanches closing off the valley, and the -24 degree temps to go to work, every day.
Make the best of it folks, be safe, and make some cocoa.

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