I tried to take the bus into work today, but no bus showed. I later learned that the #39 had been “tem­porar­i­ly suspended”. Emma drove into downtown Seattle, getting off at the James St. exit. James is steep and it was closed to traffic. She let me out at 7th and James and I walked down to the Smith Tower.

Other people were not so lucky on the steeper streets, as you can see in the photo of a bus hanging over the interstate.

This is the worst snow we’ve had in several years, and Seattle is not equipped to handle it. Most years, we only get a day or two of snow, leaving at most a couple of inches. It’s not economic for the city to have a lot of snow-clearing in­fra­struc­ture, though I did see two big trucks with plows attached this morning. Most drivers have little experience in driving in the snow or on ice, and do about as well as you’d expect. All of this is compounded by Seattle’s hills: it’s hard to go any great distance in this region without having to traverse a hill.

And there’s a big weekend storm coming in Saturday evening. I’m glad that I’m flying out in the morning and will miss it.

And so to bed.