Lock up your families, it's snowing in Seattle

Yesterday was one of the best days in the Seattle winter. It was an enigma, an unexpected event. Generally the winters here are full of rain and clouds. But yesterday, the sun made an appearance. And it just so happened that for one day only... the clouds were not in sight.

I saw a little girl pointing to the sky saying, "Daddy, what is that strange glowing orb?" He gently replied, "It's the sun, darling, and we never expected you to see it before you turned 8."

All around people had smiles on their faces and it was clear that the much needed shot of serotonin had begun to kick in. But, that was yesterday.

Today we were back to our normal weather patterns-- mildly cold temperatures with a mix of clouds and rain. I was in a meeting this afternoon when some light snow started to come. For the record, it very rarely snows in Seattle, but when it does people FREAK out.

Immediately, strange emails start coming out telling me to be safe and go be with my family in this difficult time. This is at 3:00 when a light, non-sticking snow starting coming down. 3:00 became the time for a mass exodus.

Co-workers were seen everywhere scurrying up and down the hallways, shoving laptops in their bags and grabbing their keys. Bellowing through the hallways I hear statements like, "If this gets bad, I'm working from home tomorrow".

As a former resident of Syracuse, NY, I remain relatively unphased. I go about the rest of my workday, go to the gym, and try to catch the bus home. Or so I thought.

The streets are empty, but the snow was starting to stick. The few cars that are driving by are doing so at around 10 mph. I go down to the depot for the Connector shuttle, which is a free bus service offered by Microsoft to get commuters across the bridge from Microsoft to Seattle, only to find no shuttles in sight.

Connector officials informed me that buses were "getting stuck" and that they were dispatching minivans to take us home. Apparently the minivans have 4-wheel drive, which apparently is a requirement when you have 1/10 inch of snow.

It's 8:25pm and I'm still not across the bridge and into Seattle. It could have something to do with the fact that this lightning quick steed of a minivan is doing about 8 mph.

Needless to say, I'm sure many people will be weathering this colossal storm from their homes. People of Seattle - God bless you and your families in this difficult time.