The hot topic on the news and at work the past few days was the impending snow/sleet/freezing rain headed our way for Thursday. On Tuesday they were calling for weather coming in sometime between midnight and sunrise, this kept shifting later and later and as of this morning it was predicted to start around noon. Almost like clockwork we were getting flurries around 9:45 AM with a more steady precip hitting us by 11:30.
The native New Englander in me scoffs at people’s reactions around here to winter like conditions. That being said, we don’t salt the roads, we don’t have the equipment like back east and the topography is unlike typical roads back east. Roads like Germantown, Burnside, Thompson, Miller, etc just a touch of snow/ice and no salted roads and the conditions are ripe for people spinning out and sliding off the road.
Anyways, I got up like any normal day and headed to work on MAX. The normal 15-20 people that were on the train did not exist. It was more like 5 of us.
At the office, it was about 2/3 of us in Finance. I have no idea what the other departments looked like. Then about 9:45AM this morning word started to spread that we would be closing City Hall at 10AM. A few of us stuck around for a little bit to try and get a few things completed that had to get done, but internet issues (it was down) did not allow us to do what we had to do. So I was out the door by 10:30. MAX back towards home. A quick stop at the Orenco New Seasons for some provisions and then walk home from there.
I figured with a “free” day off from work I might was well go play. This weather was a perfect opportunity to take out the Trek Farley and hit up the various paths and trails that are around my neighborhood. We don’t have a plethora of true singletrack but there are a few gravel paths and places like Noble Woods and a very tiny ribbon of single track behind Century High School. Toss in a gravel walking path behind Orenco Gardens homes and our official dog walking park, Dawson Creek, and I had enough to keep me busy for a little bit.
Not a lot of traffic out there, lots of kids playing outside while they get a day off from school. I watched about 4-5 high schoolers doing donuts in the high school parking lot too. Be safe out there and enjoy this rare snow day!
Thanks for reading,
-Pete
ON & OFF RHODES 
I think I’ve been away from New England long enough to NOT be surprised by the local’s reactions to snow! And yeah, we don’t really plow or salt here, so roads get treacherous pretty fast. Anyways, it is nice how the city shuts down for snow here, unlike Back East. And consider yourself lucky: I work a job that is open every day no matter what, no weather shuts us down! While that means I didn’t get a full fun snow day, since I work at 3pm I did get to bike to work in snow! Now it looks like things will ice over soon…
I’ve been in government work for almost 16 years now and I’ve never seen government “close”. It’s a new phenomenon for me. Even this morning we had a two hour delay, just weird. Hope your trip home was safe.
I miss Oregon winters. A day well spent.