Snowballs and Icicles

We waited all day yesterday, and the storm finally arrived, kicking things off in the middle of the night with an ice storm and some extremely loud bursts of thunder as two weather systems collided. Here's a before-and-after off the back deck, yesterday and today:

It doesn't look like much (about 3 inches so far) but weather.com predicts more of the same off and on for the next ten days.
This is highly unusual.

I always used to think it was kind of funny when people here would excitedly tell me about how it was snowing in Seattle (I know, what a jerk) because we had tons of snow in New York every winter, to the point that it was no big whoop. But this is a very hilly city with little infrastructure in place to deal with it; they don't salt the roads (thankfully, for a number of reasons, as I mentioned), and if there's any kind of freezing, mayhem ensues. I love it – everything slows down, you get out and walk a little more, and you appreciate what is already one of the most beautiful cities in the country, now covered in a thick, quiet cloak.

Here's a little snow mix for yeh.
Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning
Snowballs and Icicles mp3 (get it from Sonic Boom)
Elliott Smith Angel in the Snow mp3 (purchase)
Damien Jurado Ghost in the Snow mp3 (must have)
The Microphones Ice mp3 (do it)
The Halo Benders Snowfall mp3 (git it gurl)
Explosions in the Sky Snow and Lights mp3 (website)
The U.N. Snow mp3 (apparently out of print?)
KTL Snow mp3 (talk about a cloak…get yours from Other Music)