Snowpocalypse 2011!

We're getting hammered pretty hard here in Portland this morning--blizzard conditions, snarled traffic, really a terrible situation out there. I'm just glad we haven't lost power. The city's doing yeoman's work, and the busses are chained up so folks can get into work--those folks whose bosses are mad enough to attempt to transact business in this maelstrom. If we're lucky, and if God smiles on our sorry little town today, we might--just might--get out of it with minimal lost life.

Being a hardy blogger, I braved the violence to snap a quick picture so you can see just how bad things are:


I mean, just look it it: you can see that accumulation threatens the actual sidewalk and streets.

Of course, I kid. For those of you who don't live west of the Cascade Mountains, this is a little bit of local color. Once or twice a year, the threat of snow appears on the doppler radar of area meteorologists and this threat--yes, just the threat--is enough to shut the city down. Today most of the school districts in the metro area have canceled classes and lots of people will skip work. The local news has been obsessed with it--the Oregonian devoting two full articles to this specter of doom--all while people raised in Wisconsin and Massachusetts snigger.

It's a razor's edge, because Portlanders don't really know how to drive in the snow, and the city doesn't have the resources to handle a once-every-two-years snowstorm. When the roads are covered, it can be a horrendous mess. On the other hand, shutting the city down on the threat of snow also has some disadvantages. Oh well. All cities are dysfunctional in their own way.

I guess a day off means an opportunity to go grab a pint, so it's not all bad.