A Tale of Two Cities…
Friday, January 30, 2009 at 1:34 pm by Chuck Swanson
Okay… I’m from Boston and they get lots of snow. Sometimes the snow slows them down, cancels school, and even on occasion forces them to work from home. I moved to Portland 8 years ago, and have seen some snowflakes from time to time, but nothing like we just emerged from. At my house – and in most of the greater city area – we had about 14 inches of total accumulation with a little ice thrown in for good measure. Today as I type I’m in the office for the first time in the last week and a half. As I drove out of my drive way today and onto the surface streets in my neighborhood I was amazed at the amount of snow still on the roads; at how difficult it was just to get out to the main roads – where pavement could be seen and appreciated.
I understand the “plow factor” as I’ve come to call it – the fact that there just aren’t any, or at least not enough. In Massachusetts, they plow every street, not just the main routes… EVERY street. Here… well, they just can’t get to them all, and so when 14 inches falls, the city pretty much shuts itself down. I’m thankful that we had some employees that live close enough to our office to make it in. We run a data center, we host websites and IT infrastructures that need to be up and running at all times. The question I have is… Can’t we put anything on the roads in advance of the snow, during the snow, and after the snow, that makes the snow melt faster, keeps ice from forming, etc…?
The same weekend that Portland was experiencing our 14 inches, I called home. My parents informed me that they were getting their second foot of snow in 3 days. Didn’t slow them down much either. The roads were plowed and people were at the stores shopping for the holidays. The only chains being used on vehicles were those doing the plowing and the mail carriers delivering holiday cheer. I’m still waiting for my sisters’ package of gifts for our kids. They don’t name their storms either, or report on them 24/7… ARTIC BLAST? Oh well… Portland had a white Christmas and I was happy about that. I mean, what are the chances?
Apparently about 1 percent….
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