Posts RSS Comments RSS

eric on Nov 7th 2009 at 3:02 am Random Life Stuff

Seattle and Hail – it’s the Wild Wild West!

As I’ve said, we’ve been here a year. I’m still not used to the weather. Ok, I get it, it rains quite a bit in Seattle. But generally that rain is more like mist and drizzle. There’s hardly ever a steady rain and almost never anything we easterners would call a downpour.

rain!But on Thursday night we had an honest-to-god thunderstorm. I’ve heard thunder exactly once or twice since moving here. It was random and sort of an anomaly. I think it was snowing. Just a few weeks ago, I overheard some Seattleites talking about “that thunderstorm we had a few years ago.” These things are rare.

Nevertheless, Thursday night through Friday we had thunder, lightening, pouring rain and hail. There’s never hail here! Amazing! People will be talking about this for literally years.

hail!Wind or lightening or something knocked over a tree and killed a guy. That never happens in Seattle. In Pennsylvania, that’s not unheard of. In Oklahoma, you’re lucky to die in a nonviolent-weather related situation.

Of course, about an hour after the hail on Friday, it was sunny and the roads were dry. Just in time for more hail around 5pm.

This is, apparently, our fall. Only extreme.

Since we’ve moved here, we’ve seen the extreme weather. Seattleites must love to say “it’s never like this!” When it snowed a few inches, shutting down the city for a week, everyone was all like “whoa! it’s never like this!” When it got up to 100 degrees this past summer, everyone insisted that this had never ever happened before, not once! And now with the thunderstorms, I’m hearing it again!

Wild Wild WestListen, Seattle, I don’t believe you. It rains, it snows and it gets hot here, just like anywhere else. It’s just that when it rains real hard, nobody has umbrellas. When it snows, nobody has a shovel and the city hasn’t got a snowplow. When it gets hot, people die because there isn’t air conditioning out here.

Seattle is like the wild west. Except, without Sam Elliot and Kool Moe Dee. Sure, there’s no saloons (we’ve got cafes!), this isn’t the desert (it’s sort of a rain forest) and we don’t have lone gunmen (just douchie hipsters that make you wish we did) – but make no mistake, this is wild, untamed land with crazy weather that could pretty much do anything at any moment.

But most likely it’ll be overcast for a bit and then surprisingly sunny till the clouds roll in and it rains a little.



Related posts:

  1. All hail Oort! All hail Eastern Europe! (And Iceburn)
  2. West Coast – Day Thirteen – Seattle for a bit then Jason & Margaret!
  3. West Coast – Day Fifteen – Bus to Seattle / Ryan and Taviri
  4. West Coast – Day Twelve – Train to Olympia… no Seattle! Wait! What?! GIRL?!?
  5. Whither Seattle?

8 responses so far

RSS feed

8 Comments »

Comment by momNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 07:32:35

Since you left Pa. our weather here and Seattle weather has been pretty messed up.
Our world is out of kilter, because of you…
We are in the……. Twilight Zone…….I think that when dawn is almost here….. when everything goes black and white……. that in a far distance that I hear ….Rod Sterling talking……….what is he saying……..I can almost make it out……..
……he is saying…..that Eric and Sarah…. please get back to PA. to save the world from further destruction. You must make the sacrifice……you must make the world right again…..the world is depending on you…….we are at the eve of destruction…….only YOU can change this.

Plus I am tired of Rod Sterling waking me up each morning!
It you don’t come home I will send Al Gore out there to entertain you……no I mean to talk to you…..you must also be causing his global warming and he would not like that.

I hope that you take heed of this advice…for the sake of the world….plus we really miss you all.

Did you ever heard that song the eve of destruction?

Reply to this comment
Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 09:22:43

I do my best to keep the world completely out of kilter. I don’t think Rod would say such things.

I’ve not heard the song “eve of destruction,” or, at least I don’t remember hearing it.

I have, however, heard “Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring. It’s nothing to write home about.

Reply to this comment
 
Comment by AlanNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 22:37:44

Eric, I know you’ve heard this song–one of the most famous protest songs from 1965, “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire–you just don’t remember, but you’ve heard it.

Reply to this comment
Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 22:57:07

Yep, my mom sent it to me and I’ve definitely heard it before. Great song.

Reply to this comment
 
 
 
Comment by ScottNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 11:42:47

Nothing quite like getting caught in a hailstorm on a scooter. That is the kind of day that makes me thankful for full face helmets

Reply to this comment
Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 20:18:43

I do wish that I could have ridden in it. I’ve ridden in snow, sleet, freezing rain, regular rain and sand storms (very plural), but never hail. Maybe someday.

Reply to this comment
 
 
Comment by Ryan BeggarNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 15:42:38

Great book title: Your tight pants make me wish there were lone gunmen.

Reply to this comment
Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2009-11-07 20:19:26

I’d call out the Montana Militia to clear out The Hill.

Reply to this comment
 
 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.