New Year's Winter Wonderland

I am often amazed at how certain areas of a county or city can have a different climate than others.

In my own neighborhood (maybe about a square mile in radius) there is one section that is often colder than the other (more frost on the streets during Winter) and that same area of my neighborhood has crickets in summer, where my section of the neighborhood has none. Certain breeds of birds prefer that side of my neighborhood, also.

On a larger scale, certain areas of the Seattle metro get snow -- others don't, usually. I have relatives who live maybe 10 km north of Seattle, and they get at least a couple inches of snow every Winter. Where I live, we get snow maybe once every other year -- if that. Usually we get barely any, and if it does fall, it's gone by mid-morning.

To people in other parts of the U.S., snow is a regular thing during Winter. Here where I live, it's a rarity. It's about as rare as 80 degree weather in Northern Norway -- it happens, but rarely. :-)

The 518 freeway passing the northern reaches of Sea-Tac Airport in the New Year's snow -- a jet airliner can be seen taking off in the upper part of the picture. To the right, you can see a couple cars that apparently got stuck in the snow when it began falling heavily overnight.

You'd think that the entire Seattle metro area would get the same weather, but that's not always the case. An example of this phenomenon: New Year's morning.

The further west I drove, the heavier the snow was.

I had spent New Year's watching movies with a couple friends who live in Auburn, a Seattle suburb in South King County, about 12 miles south of me. When I headed home, the sky was mostly grey, and there were areas of clearing. The ground was frosty, but mostly dry.

I got home, and I made some tea before heading out to visit a relative who was staying in northern Burien, a city on a low hill that is right next to Puget Sound. It's maybe 8 km / 5 miles west of me.

As soon as I reached Southcenter and I-5 -- about half way there -- I noticed snow on the ground. It had snowed overnight.

The freeway on the way to Burien, going west. The trees here -- especially the firs -- always look so beautiful during those rare times we get snow here in the Seattle area.

By the time I got to Burien, there were four or more inches of snow everywhere -- the freeway had snow in the lanes, and every tree looked like a Winter Wonderland! It was like a completely different world: every street was covered in snow, and even the main highways had three inches of snow on them.

Entering Burien, Washington, during the New Year's snow. A snowplow can be seen to the left of the picture.

Fortunately, my car is really good in the snow. It's a very stable driver.

I snapped a few pictures on my Nikon snapshot camera as I drove (I was driving slowly because of the snow conditions).

A Burien sidestreet on New Year's Day.

A truck was nearly stuck halfway up a hill off of Ambaum Blvd.  I heard a guy who came out to help greet the driver with a "Happy New Year".

Going southbound on Ambaum.

Downtown Burien on New Year's Day.

Northbound on the Pac Highway.

New Year's Sunrise.

Up the hill past Sea-Tac.

After my visit with my relative, I drove back home to Renton -- where there was maybe half an inch of snow on the ground -- looking more like heavy frost than snow.

The past several days it's been cold out -- 25-35 degrees F (it got to minus 6 C the other morning), and mostly clear. The holidays are now gone, unless you're religious. The Latino community still celebrates the Dia De Los Reyes on January 6th, and the Orthodox community celebrates Christmas at that time. But for the rest of us, Christmas is over. Some of us keep our lights up. I keep some of mine up until the end of January. They brighten up an otherwise dreary landscape.

By the time I reached Southcenter, just a mile and a half west of the Sea-Tac Airport, the snow had diminished to an inch or two, and the road was mostly bare and wet.

Here's hoping all of you had a safe New Year's (yes, many of us here add the possessive "S" to the end of 'New Year'), and hope that your 2017 is safe, healthy, peaceful and prosperous.