Seattle Braces for Snowmaggedon

On Friday afternoon, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency in response to the ongoing Winter Storm Maya. Officials believe that Seattle and greater Northwest Washington could receive up to eight inches of snow in the next twenty four hours.

To get a local’s perspective, we talked to former Sunset editor Jess Chamberlain (@jessedit), a native Californian who now lives in Seattle. Chamberlain started by saying that “transplants from the Midwest are rolling their eyes” at all of the “snowmaggedon” talk. While this eight inches of snow is nothing compared to the monster storms in the plains, it does pose a threat.

Typically, the region only sees a couple of inches of snow each year, so there isn’t infrastructure to deal with winter storms like these. That means that residents “anticipate schools being closed and roads being inaccessible. […] People are getting ready to stay in for several days.”

Chamberlain said that one way people are preparing for “snowmaggedon” is by stocking on groceries. On Thursday night, Trader Joe’s was a “frenzied” scene. Shoppers walked around “wide-eyed, like, ‘what’s about to happen?’” The former editor adds,

“Some produce shelves and dry good aisles were totally emptied. Someone said it was Trade Joe’s busiest day ever. […] Some on the news this morning joked “Seattle is in a state of emergency. Whole Food is out of kale.”

Stay up to date on the winter storm here.