Old-School Seattle Snow

 

2/6/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood, about 8:30 a.m.

As much as I can see without putting on boots.

The first good snow of the season is always a novelty in these parts. People post photos of their streets on Facebook, and a couple of inches will close schools. Unfortunately for kids, they don’t get a snow day – they have to attend class online. (Pandemic preparedness sure ruined snow days!) With temps above freezing, the wet, heavy snowfall last week was pretty first thing in the morning when I sketched this but soon turned into a slushy mess. This is old-school, Seattle-style snow – not that newfangled climate change stuff we got several years ago.

It was trash day, and everyone optimistically put their bins out the previous night. Unfortunately, all the pickups were delayed all over the city. I didn’t care about that; I was just grateful I didn’t lose power as many areas did.

Technical note: How I’ve missed graphite and all pencils! The markers I’ve been using for the better part of a year have been fun and expeditious (and just right for the comics approach I’ve been focused on), but making this sketch with a Blackwing made my heart soar in a way that using markers never will!

The day before the solid snowfall, we got an inch of "teaser" snow that
was gone by noon. During my afternoon walk when the snow was starting
again, I spotted this quintessential Seattle snowman!