These images were provided by viewers of KIRO-TV.

This is a complete twist of the weather we had been seeing earlier this year. We’re in for a cold summer.

You heard me right. Beginning today at around 11:00am it began snowing. At first it was barely noticeable (except everyone at school went crazy.)

And now, it’s snowing like it’s December. In Washington, we’ve barely had any snow, but now, it’s just coming down hard. Just when you thought the weather couldn’t get any more peculiar, it does.

For me, I’m happy about this. Snow in such unusual times makes me really excited. I don’t know how long this is going to last, but hopefully, I see more days like this. And yes, I will laugh if it snows in June.

Hmmm… I wonder if the guys in Portland are having any of this…

Yesterday, I was driving home when I saw a few menacing clouds that looked like thunder clouds. They were towards the east, so I reasoned there might be some kind of thunderstorms there. Today, I haven’t seen a cloud in the sky. It’s 85 degrees in my house, 95 outside, and not many people here have air conditioning. At least I have a fan.

So for all of you feeling this heat, drink plenty of water and don’t move around too much unless you have to (writing at OKS blog is a great way to cool off!)

Where I live, Renton, we do not get so much so; not the most snow, nor the least. But this year seemed different.

We have had storm system after storm system move in on us. Wednesday experienced two inches of snow, nothing compared to what would happen next. On Friday, after the Wednesday snows had melted, we got a four-inch covering of snow, along with three millimeters of ice on top (yes, I measured that). This added ice made the snow exceptionally crunchy, like walking on potato chips.

Come Saturday, we had blizzard-like conditions. Around 7pm, strong winds started to blow all the snow off the rooftops. This snow accumulated wherever it could, including on our front porch. In fact, the snow drift was about two inches. This blizzard continued for a while.

In the end, Renton saw about twelve inches of snow. The ice left over from the previous storm was still there and as crunchy as could be. I built this huge bowl of snow, but I didn’t know what to do with it. Our neighbor built an igloo that was quite nice. That bowl of snow in my backyard was intended to be an igloo, but I didn’t know how to build one.

UPDATES

(Dec. 26, 2008 @ 3:08p): Meteorolgists were right in their predictions of another storm around Wednesday. The storm was not as severe as before, but we got quite some snow that I did not measure. This snow dragged on until Christmas Day Thursday, when it snowed all day and night. And, for the first time, our car got stuck in the snow. Luckily, we were able to get out.

No one plowed our neighborhood that day, so when we got back, it was all h*** broke loose. It got worse, though. Around 9pm, there was a sudden power outage. I don’t know what caused it, but I took some pictures of our neighborhood, which I will upload later. Lucky for us that the power came back around 10pm.

As I write this from a library in Bellevue, it is snowing, but not for much longer. This snow will turn into rain, and melt away what it brought. You’ll either be happy to be out of the deep freeze, or sad as the snowmen in your neighbor’s front yard melts away.

(December 29, 2008 @ 7:51p): More snow for this region is predicted any where from Monday to Wednesday*. It’s Monday, and for the past three days, all I’ve seen is rain, rain, and more rain. This rain has melted away 80-90% of our snow. It has also been very windy today.

Just a few days ago, something unfortunate happened in our neighborhood. Supposedly, two people were walking on one of the storm drainage lakes in our community. One of them fell through the ice. I’d infer that the other called 911. My dad witnessed some of the event, saying that there were four ambulances and several police cars. No one was aloud to watch, but my dad did see a gaping hole in the ice where the person fell through. The rescuers through a life ring into the frigid water in hopes of saving the victim, but that didn’t work. Police eventually had to don special wet suits to dive in the water as a last ditch effort for rescue. This story hasn’t appeared on the news yet, though.

(Jan 10, 2009 @ 8:0_p): We got an unexpected two inches of snow the day before school, so it was two hours late. Other than that, the snow has disappeared, but much of the sand on the streets remains. In fact, I was riding my bicycle and fell due to the sand.

The snowfall has been replaced by rainfall here, and hasn’t caused any problems for Renton. Elsewhere, it’s a different story. Floods closed all of the mountain passes and some major highways, which made Western Washington an island.

*Correction: The predicted storms are supposed to bring with them high winds and rain.

A view from my house in Renton, WA

Peace out,

Deathgleaner