It was The Great Snow Storm of 2012. Snow-pocalypse. Snow-mageddon. Snow My God. %#$@, That’s A Lot Of &#%@$*! Snow.
Followed by ice, wind, and then Slush-pocalypse: Revenge of the Rain.
Schools and government offices closed. Large parts of Olympia were blacked out, including all our favorite coffee shops. Among the more bizarre sights: somebody cross-country skiing along 4th Avenue, somebody else snowmobiling down 5th Avenue, trees breaking apart all over town including large branches falling from Sylvester Park onto Capitol Way, a guy walking around in shorts, and postmen walking their routes like it weren’t no big deal.
We’ve lived on the east coast and in the mid-west and other places where it snows much more than here. Back there, the first big snowfall of the year (which typically occurs by November) heralds the beginning of four (…five? …six?!) months of frozen bleakness. The snow packs down, becomes a solid layer of ice, get covered in grime and sand, and stays that way until the spring thaw. Occasionally a new layer of flakes blanket it, only to get packed down in turn. With a jackhammer, you could expose the sedimentary layers of ice and dirt. Meanwhile, if the sun comes out, the temperature rarely rises above 20 degrees. Thus, for the folks living there, the first snow says “Get ready for ice season.”
But here is different. No, it’s not that we can’t drive in it (though some can’t), nor that we don’t have enough snow plows (we don’t, but that’s okay, it would be a waste of money). Rather, the difference is that we know that in a few days it all will melt and we’ll get back to the usual rain.
So, when it snows in the Pacific Northwest, the proper reaction is to slow down, take the day off work, unwind, and enjoy. Maybe throw a slush ball at someone, or build a snow man/woman/blob. Society won’t break down if we all take a break. And other than the tv news people – who hyperventilated – that’s that most people did: took a break. Or helped out the people who were in need because their power was still out.
Thinking back, even after the 2001 earthquake – or all the way back to Mt. St. Helens in 1980 – most people were pretty chill. We’re pleased to live in a town where our response to natural disasters is to clean up the mess but otherwise relax.