lol, I love this, mother and son posting! Mine just rolls his eyes when I quote "Fodors"..

Stavros, we moved here (Portland Or) a year and a half ago from Florida. I don't have a hard time with the wet grey when I think of the hot wet hurricane prone days back in Fl.
Today is fun, I am watching the sun shine one minute, then the sleet/flurries/sun/snow/sun..nothing boring about todays weather :)

Yeah, todays weather sure is interesting!!! Hail and snow at the same time (never seen that before), and it keeps changing literally every minute or two.

mms and Scarlett,

Facinating weatehr combination. Oh joy. :-<

Orcas-have you had a certified arborist check out your trees? That could either give you some peace of mind, or let you know that you do have some potentially dangerous trees that need taking care of. I don't know the law where you live but here in Seattle, if the scary trees are on a neighbor's property, you can notify them officially of the dangerous trees, which makes them liable for any damage that is caused.

It was snowing with the sun out just a few minutes ago, downtown Seattle.

The scary trees are on our property. We're in Bellevue and I've heard mixed things about the rules re removal. I believe the cost would be Xtreme, if we tried to take out the ones above our house.
We're getting some quick snow right now that is coming down like pieces of styrafoam and sticking wherever it lands. The roads are coated. I guess I have to agree with Scarletta and mms that it is very interesting.

I think christy has a good idea to get those trees checked out. When we lived in NY in the boonies, we had huge trees come down a few times. One fell on DD's bedroom, but thank god we had a log home so it didn't come all the way through (she was about 4 and in her room playing).

DD said they only had a bit of sleet today at the high school. But we are way up at the top of a hill in town, and still have the ground covered. Not a lot, but it's white.

You know, this weather today reminds me so much of Ireland where we would get sunshine, hail, snow all within a few minutes of each other.
Scarlett, did you move from Jacksonville?
One of you young ladies did a few months before we moved.

The PNW is a lot like Ireland, but before all the trees were cut. The Oregon Coast reminds me of the Irish coast, in fact.
I remember when Scarlett lived in Florida. Those hurricanes got to be too much. It's been a good move for you, hasn't it, Scarlett?

Are we having fun yet? Another snowstorm in Seattle. Our normally 12-minute ride home took 2 hours tonight. Then we drove downhill to our home, and are stuck until we chain up the car.

I consider myself a PNW native (lived in Portland since age 5, with the exception of the college stint in Boston). I don't mind this weather at all - find it exciting - but my New Yorker husband (who himself has lived in Portland for 12 years) keeps grumbling about the fact that he misses having "real" winter. Says he wants heaps of snow. I usually mention that we can look at snow year-round on Mt. Hood but that we don't have to shovel it. That statement is usually met with more grumbling...

Yes, I moved from Jacksonville in Aug 2005.
Orcas, yes, it was a great move .. I love it here for so many reasons.

Count me in as one of those who is kind of sick of the weather this year!
I guess that is because 50% of my work is outside so it can be a little wet for me...of course I do water damage restoration so I guess rain = money. Supposed to get cold cold tonight!

BTW not a newb here =)
12 years in Coos Bay on the coast and 7 in Southern ORegon (Grants Pass) I actually moved to Grants Pass to get rid of some of the rain!!

well it snowed several inches in Eugene last night- I have to laugh- all the schools are closed and so far there are only 3 of us at work. The roads really are not bad- but everyone panics and stays home.
However, I bet many of them will figure out how to get to the ski areas on the weekend.
I grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada where the snow and cold seldom shut anything down so this state of panic is pretty funny to me.

We had lots of snow in Bellevue. It is so pretty today, with blue skies! Lots of people I know were stuck in traffic for hours and hours, as the snow hit quickly and stuck immediately. Today there is a sheet of ice under the snow.

There are lots of differences between snow here and in the midwest that affect driving. It's not just the drivers are less experienced. First, there isn't as much snow removal equipment. Second, in Oregon, no salt is used, and I don't think it is used much in Seattle. Third, Portland tends to get ice storms, which are hard to drive on, no matter what, and the snow is wetter, too, so is icier, everywhere. Fourth, the roads twist and wind and go up and down hills. I learned to drive in Chicago, where everything was flat, snow was drier, and salt ruined your boots and cars, but melted the ice. I think it's very different driving here in the snow.

We have friends who had a 5+ hour trek home last night. Their bus dumped them off at Eastgate and said "good luck". They live in Issaquah. They managed a ride to downtown Issaquah and hiked (in work clothes) up to the Highlands where they live.

Talk about not being prepared.

But I don't think this winter has been particularly gloomy. Strange, yes, but not gloomy.

But then again, I have webbed feet being born and raised here.

I'm so jealous of your snow in Eugene! We lived near 18th & Mill, whenever it snowed, we would take the dog out for fun walks in the green spaces nearby.

Is it expected to last or will it melt away soon? I imagine the driving was fun for people in the southeast and southwest hills.

OK, I'm jealous of all of you! Send some rain or snow MY way! I live in Tx, and while we have had some rainy weather, we are still trying to recooperate from a summer drought (a summer that lasted from March until November)And snow, I hav never even SEEN snow, except for a inch or sothat melted by noon!

I don't know about Eugene, but around Seattle the snow is expected to stick around for days. It is very cold out (which here means below freezing). But what a beautiful day, blue sky, blue water, and the Olympics floating between, all covered in white.

I may pull out my XC skis and go for a spin in the park with the dog after work.