Good point. I’m not sure you can get topo data out of Google Maps (but I’d be happy to be wrong). The Google Earth desktop application will show you the altitude at the current cursor position.
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It’s all about the tires, Rob. You could put these on a Mustang GT and cruise up and down that street without slipping.
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Got it figured. Get walking directions and it shows the elevation change. 226 ft door to door for the kid. In 2 very steep changes. This is why he is in much better shape than me. It is also enough that we have had light snow at the house and it is rain by the time you get down the hill to the school.
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I came here to gloat about Midwestern snow-driving prowess, but you watch the video and the drivers appear to be following good snow-driving technique (go slow, go straight, don’t lay on the gas if your wheels are spinning). So it must be environmental.
Hypothesis 1: major streets built at grades that snow-bound cities wouldn’t dare
Hypothesis 2: cars have bare tires (possibly since cars have a longer lifespan when they aren’t corroded by salt annually)
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Ah, that explains it… and it’s also available for bicycle directions as well (which I’ve used to preview what to expect when I’ve gone off to ride an unfamiliar route).
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Yep; I live just ‘upstairs’ from you in the Canadia part of the coastal pac nw. Everything’s basically been closed since Sunday here, this is day 2 of school closures.
I’ve lived here for 20-some years, and like manybellsdown’s area, this region is populated with people who do not know how to drive in the snow. So they don’t. If I had a friggin nickel for every time I had to listen to some Easterner blather on self-righteously about people who can’t drive in snow, I’d have a nice, solid roll of 'em to clock those asshats with.
And yes, where I am most of the roads haven’t been ploughed in days. Because we have one plough. In the same vein as ‘get better tires or get another car,’ a polite fuck you very much. Our municipality can’t afford five more ploughs to be used once every five years or so, when there’s too much snow to be handled by one. Especially not just so you can put your ill-prepared ass into your fancy summer-tired SUV so you can drive to the store to buy capers.
Sorry. I accidentally read our community bulletin board on f’book today and now I’m in a really shitty mood about all the whining complaining nonsense. You’d think this place was entirely populated by people who are (a) in the midst of transporting human organs or (b) expected in the OR immediately in order to perform any number of open-heart surgeries. Bloody self-important whingers.
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Yeah I’m a little concerned about my tires, honestly. Like I said, I have AWD but I was planning on replacing the tires NEXT winter. The last maintenance inspection I had said “these tires are good for another year unless you plan on driving in the snow.” Since I was not planning to go over the passes or anything, I didn’t replace them, not expecting a foot of snow in an area that averages 3-4 inches a year.
Also I realized too late that my tire chains are for my old sedan and too small to fit the tires on a Honda CR-V. So I don’t even have that option.
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Channel 13 was invisible to us, but once in a while we could tune in KVOS.
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The OEM Hankooks with my car were bad-in-all-weather tires. I was glad to swap those out.
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We had such a mild, weird winter that I never … switched my tires. Sigh. I don’t really worry about snow, but once the temp gets below 7 or so © for a day or more I usually switch to winters. Until last week, it hadn’t gone below that for more than a day!
I was too busy gloating about not living in Ontario and looking at my daffodil and garlic shoots to pay attention to the forecast and blam.
Ah well. Everything’s closed anyway. Car will rest comfortably in the driveway under 2’ of snow until later in the week, when the temps rocket back up to 8/10…
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Exactamundo.
Seattle, and the surrounding areas, cultivate weather-relared disasters.
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Several issues:
People have trouble on some of our steeper streets in the summer even. Nothing like watching someone burn their clutch while driving downtown.
In between the hills with steep roads we have a lot of lakes and water ways. These cause choke points in the major traffic flow. One accident in the right place will cause hundreds of cars to switch to the only other way (around a lake or to another bridge), this flood of traffic often causes additional accidents. Which cause more cars to find alternate routes. The whole city can grid lock as the areas choke one-by-one, …on nice summer day.
People. Being a largish city and being home to a few tech giants, people come here from all over. We are a mishmash of driving styles. Some people have never seen snow. Some people come from places that experience many months of snow on flatland. I think as many accidents here are from overconfidence as they are from inexperience.
All these things combine in a place where snow isn’t that common and when we do get snow it often melts the same day, so the urgency to spend money buying a second set of tires for half a day of possible snow driving just isn’t in the budget for many.
With that said this year is an uncommon year for snow. Here is a link to our snow stats:
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When I lived in Seattle I’d hike downtown from the top of Capitol Hill and back every day as part of my routine. It was not a big deal.
Now I’d be out of breath just climbing those hell stairs from the viaduct parking lot to Pike’s Place.
If nothing else, living in Seattle will keep you in shape.
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Yeah imagine a street where you roll back when the light turns green on a dry, sunny day - in a car with automatic transmission. Now imagine that street covered in ice! Wheeee!
Also, why the everloving fuck do people not clean the snow off their damn cars here? If I had a dollar for every Lexus barreling down the freeway with 6 inches of snow still on the roof I could buy 5 Lexuses of my own. In fact, last week I was in a parking garage and there was a car that not only had several inches of snow on its roof, but the entire back window was under an untouched 5 inches of snow. How did they drive there? It didn’t get snowed on inside the parking garage!
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Exactly! I still remember my first time driving in Seattle when I was 18 or 19 and getting stuck at a red light going uphill and some ass had to stop within an inch of my bumper. I was praying to not roll backwards and ended up peeling rubber instead. lol
I think it is a competition for some people. Oh, you are complaining about your driveway snow but I had more AND HERE IS MY CAR ROOF AS PROOF. 
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I grew up & lived in Chicago most of my life, where I faced virtually every type of driving condition known to mankind. I also lived in Seattle back in the 90’s. When I lived there most Seattle drivers were hopeless when a couple of inches of snow arrived.
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Damn. That is on an entire different level.
Interesting article about snowplows.
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Just got the message that all Bellevue schools are closed tomorrow, for the third day in a row. But considering it just took me a full 5 minutes to wade through the frozen slush to my mailbox I can see the problem.
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