How Is The Weather?

Talking (read: complaining) about the weather is the #1 pastime for Olympians - something they have in common with the Dutch. The beautiful winter wonderland pictures I have posted so far do not provide an accurate impression of Olympia weather. This is the 24th wettest city in the United States! Winters in Olympia are wet, not white.

It has been raining hard the last couple of days and almost all of the snow is gone. We are back to dreary, gray (I have finally figured it out! Gray is US English, grey is UK English) skies. The snowfall we had earlier was exceptional and the response by city officials accordingly. I believe there are at best three snowplows for all of Thurston County and road salt is considered not environmentally friendly and therefore not used. No exceptions. After all, people grow faster than trees, so why preserve them? It took the city ten days to get to our street. And then they dumped it all in our driveway. I came home to a 4' mountain of slush. It took us a while to shovel our way out, now I had to shovel my way back in...

The falling rain and melting snow are causing rivers to overflow. Western Washington is a mess! The interstate to Portland is closed. Even our basement is flooded. And for the fourth week in a row, my Wednesday yoga class was canceled. I was taught that temperate climates were moderate climates but the Pacific North West seems to go from one extreme to the next. They need to update the brochure!