Winter has hit the Northwest ... finally!

A big weather system has hit the northwestern states and it's been very interesting watching news coverage of it all on the weather channel. I talked with Jen a couple of times yesterday and she said the roads in the Lewiston area were bad and they had 6 or 7 inches of snow. Now, Idaho is used to getting snow. But in the Lewiston/Clarkston valley, not so much. Sure they get it. Just not in depths of inches at once. In fact, Lewiston closed their schools yesterday early and Dave and I don't ever remember that happening when we went to school. They have even closed the University of Idaho today, unheard of.....

I have mixed feelings for all of those involved. The folks in Pierce, Idaho - I'm overjoyed for them. Snow, finally! They have a big winter festival coming up in February and I can't imagine how they'd have one without snow. But, they are getting their share of it now. Linda, one of our readers - and a dear friend -  living on the Weippe prairie posted they had over a foot and it was still snowing. I've drove across that prairie with over a foot of snow on it and the roads can get pretty dicey. The good part of it, if you slide off the road you usually just go into a field.

My friends in the Portland and Seattle area? Not so tickled for them. Sure, the Northwest needs snow. Without snow, all the ski areas can't open and that's devastating financially. And with no snowpack, the wildfires are almost unmanageable in the summers. So they need snow in the mountains.

But downtown Portland and downtown Seattle? Nope, they don't need snow! It's scary enough driving in those areas on a good day, add the elements and there are wrecks everywhere. What's sad is that the snow doesn't last too long in those areas, it switches back to rain and melts it quickly. And that brings another mess .....

Flooding! We lived in Salem, Oregon during the floods of 1996. I worked at the Statesman Journal then and can remember one night when Dave drove me as far as he could towards the paper and then I walked the rest of the way. All the bridges in the downtown area had water coming over the top and the city crews were closing them. That really didn't mean much to a newspaper person. I had to get there somehow. So, Dave drove to several bridges in the downtown area and we picked the one we thought I could walk over safely to get to work.

We have pictures from that flood, lots of them. It was quite the experience to go through. For two whole days - with a pump running constantly - we had 4 feet of water in our basement. Jenni and I did our best to get all of our belongings out of the basement before the water got too deep. I remember that last trip down the basement stairs and seeing all of our ski boots floating. I kind of knew it was too late to save anything else. The entire Willamette Valley was flooded. All from a big snowstorm, followed by an ice storm, followed by a warm day. That's exactly what is going on there now. So, I'm hoping the damage doesn't get as bad as 1996.

As I look out our windows this morning, it's beautiful. Yeah, a bit frosty, but blue skies and sunshine await us today. I'm sure in several days we will be getting the backlash from these NW storms though, so it makes me wonder what the week ahead brings for us.

Have a great day everyone. And God Bless you.....
Pam