Winter Driving Review

As I watched my neighbor scrape ice from her windshield I realized it’s probably time to review the topic of winter driving. Mount Baker ski area has opened, the freezing level is dropping, and we’ve already had some flooded roads. Here comes winter.

If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone from Minnesota about winter driving, you’ve probably heard the ridicule about how Washington doesn’t have a “real” winter. And that’s exactly the problem. In wintery parts of the country people prepare for the inevitable ice and snow. Here we often get caught off-guard by a storm system that blows in, makes a mess of things, and then melts away two days later. And unlike places that stay frozen for weeks at a time, we have weather that fluctuates between just below and just above freezing, creating the slippery hazard of a thin layer of water on top of a layer of ice. I’ve seen a parked car slide off the road in those conditions. Continue reading “Winter Driving Review”