Excuses, excuses. Decades ago the snow (deeper and more frequent) brought few traffic problems and was greeted with delight in the Portland area. The difference between then and now? Transplanted Californians.
Let me add my voice to those who are sick of hearing mid-westerners laugh at the local reaction to an impending winter storm. It's not the snow. No one cares about a few inches of snow. It's the ice; and as Masbee said, the topography, and as others have said, this area is not equiped to deal with the road maintenance. My dad used to live north of Spokane. The winters are cold (like -20 cold) and the snowfall is dry. I had no trouble driving there. Getting there from here, however, was quite dangerous. The problem here is that usually when it snows, it rains first, then it freezes, then sometimes it thaws and freezes again. All things considered, I'd rather be in Costa Rica.
Fargo was a bitch yesterday. Wind chills were around -50 all day with snow pouring all day. Terrible stuff. The whole city shut down, and thats pretty impressive since Fargo is built to withstand things like this.
HCP....Your momma's so fat when she fell over, she rocked herself to sleep tryin to get back up again.
Fool, yo mama is SO ugly, when she was born they had to put her in an incubator with tinted windows!!!
I lived in Bozeman, Montana for 12 years. I moved back to Portland area 12 years ago, and again remembered why the city shuts down when the snow hits. The lack of removal equipment, the instant freeze, the lack of snow tires, and the hills make for a very dangerous place to live. I'm fine since I have four wheel drive and snow tires (we visit Bend/Bachelor all winter long), but after witnessing personally two wrecks on Boone's Ferry this am, I say shut it all down and let's go sledding.
OH SNAP!! Your mom's breath smells so bad, I didn't know whether to give that bitch a Tic-Tac or toilet paper!
I went to Bozeman a few weeks ago to visit a friend at montana state.... We just got drunk. There was nothing else to do. I talked to him today he said with wind chill it's like -30 or so.
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You may be fine but a lot of people who don't have a clue feel the same way about 4 wheel drives and snow tires. Then they end up like this.
In defense of Oregonians....we have WAY more hills here than in the midwest. It's easy to get around in snow on flat land, but an entirely different experience navigating the likes of Sylvan, Skyline, Burnside, Cornell, Mt Tabor, Germantown, etc...etc.....
Not only that, but our roads also have a slightly convex surface which aids in the shedding and funneling of rain, put a sheet of ice on top and you get predictable results.
Screw that - people of the mid-west. Even if you are morally superior because you can drive in the snow in your plowed flat roads - we have more people than pigs, not the other way around.