Locals fumed over the headline.
“Snow wimps: Seattle is shut down by first real snow of the season,” read a Wednesday blog post in the Los Angeles Times’ Nation Now section.
Being called a wimp is bad enough, but what made it worse was that it came from LA, a place where the biggest weather danger is easily overcome with sunscreen.
“Why ya gotta hate?” @SEASteph1327 tweeted in response to the LA Times post. “Jealous we’re still happier?”
Kim Murphy, the Times reporter who wrote the story, was quick to respond.
“I don’t hate! I moved here didn’t I?” she tweeted back.
That’s right – the one who taunted us is one of us.
Murphy lives on Bainbridge Island and serves as the Times’ Northwest correspondent.
In her post, she called Seattle a “clueless” city that “always marches unarmed in its infrequent battles with snow.”
The region’s snow wimps do so, Murphy wrote, in “politically correct small cars” that spend the morning “sliding ineffectually.”
Then, with their wimpy cars quietly gathering snowflakes, snow wimps quickly forget all about being productive at work. They retreat into snow wimp pursuits, like sledding, coffee drinking and book reading.
Murphy was a guest on KUOW this morning for a discussion about her snow wimp topic.
She complained about being “severely abused” by the region’s snow wimps after her post went up.
Fortunately for Murphy, snow wimp abuse is limited to icy emails.
“I can’t tell you how much hate mail I’ve received,” she told KUOW host David Hyde.
Apparently, the snow wimps have had an impact.
Murphy softened her stance, saying she wrote the post when the snowfall was relatively light. Now that a few inches have settled in, we have cause for wimping out.
“Today is a very serious situation,” she said. “It’s with freezing rain and ice and snow on ice …. it’s just been really bad. Everybody’s allowed to be a wimp when it’s like that.”
shes right – i used to live in New England. 4-6 inches was just a minor annoyance there not an excuse to close the state
Hard for you to get to work today with all that backpedaling Murph?
Fortunate for you we “Wimps” are a forgiving group. Stay warm tonight.
C’mon Kim, really: “She complained about being “severely abused” by the region’s snow wimps after her post went up.” You don’t want to be known as a media wimp do you? Buck up now!!
But you know folks, Kim makes a point. The two days of media hype before the storm had the area whipped up into a frenzy. Frederal government military bases released people early before the first flake melted on the ground then completely shut down for two days.
On the other hand, bless the Naval Hosptal Bremerton (definitely not snow wimps) as their clinics were open for business all week. Perhaps Costco shoppers are not wimps when it comes to snow and more prepared than others because snow shovels were available Tuesday night in the Silverdale store. And there is nothing wimpy (stupid maybe but not wimpy) about sledding at high speed down a steep Bainbridge Island hill, hiting a car, pole or fence then spending the rest of your snow day off recuperating.
All that said, there is something peaceful (maybe wimpy) when I can sit in front of the picture window and watch the snow fall with my cup of coffee. I really look forward to reliving that experience from time to time, especially in the great Pacific Northwest.
We are entitled to be “snow wimps” when we have more than a dusting as we don’t have the snow removal equipment, the personnel or the budget to get out there and get it up and out of the way like they do in New England. Not a fair comparison. I have lived in Syracuse – so I am highly qualified to say this. And I have also lived in Southern California – doubly qualified – and they are complete, total and utter Rain Wimps – the first to clutch an umbrella at the sign of anything even resembling heavy dew and the first to scurry beneath awnings and most likely to arrive late and leave early to beat scary rain traffic. My family has been here for generations and no one in my household owns an umbrella.
Really? I guess she missed me in my little yellow Smart Car (donning snow tires) as I made it to the top of the Springridge hill while looking for a liberated sled. I guess she also missed the ice that is just barely hidden under the layer of snow that was cracking under my boots as I took my boys sledding. Shut down the computer and get outside and actually experience the snow before you judge it so quickly and harshly…. That or go back to LA.
“I don’t hate! I moved here didn’t I?”
That may be, but you’re the type of person who should move back. You move here, then call the people you moved around names? Really? That just seems to lack any common sense what so ever. Then you play the victim card and say you’re “severely abused”? Sounds like someone else might be a whimp. You name called an entire region with out seeming to have any knowledge of what happens here. What did you think would happen? First I would like to know, where did you venture out in the middle of the storm? What hills did you drive up and down joyfully with ease? I’d love to watch your amazing snow skills going up and down queen anne or many of the other steep hills.
Murphy you’re an idiot. You need to shut your mouth and learn the region and the weather before spouting off. Snow,ice, then more snow. Melting and refreezing. Trees falling killing people(8 dead so far last time I checked). Yeah great reason to call people wimps. This all coming from someone who comes from somewhere when it rains they flip out.
Heres a clue. You don’t want people pissed? Say sorry, and you’re a jack a@#. Maybe that will be a start. Till then don’t complain about something you started by being ignorant.
Weather wimps? You BET we are! and rightfully so! We live in one of the mildest….most wonderful places on the planet. Our humidity is civil….the highs rarely if ever get above 100F. The cold is only so cold with a temperature low of never below zero. The problem with snow here is that it comes so rarely that alot of the residents don’t rightfully know how to drive in it. We have alot of hills and the ground stays warmer then the east coast! I am glad to be a Western Washington Weather Wimp….although where I live it does get a fair amount of snow (hood canal area). Take this in stride people…..LA would be in a panic if they had our weather, but then again….if this were Philly…they would laugh at us! I love Washington state. (a Washington state natural born citizen…a rare breed indeed!)
Kim Murphy? Never heard of her… *yawn*
My husband is one of those Naval Hospital Bremerton employees that went in at 0500 all week, snow or not. I wanted him home but the operating rooms were still booked and clinic appointments were still scheduled. As an active duty service member he understands the call of duty, and in the medical field your patients come first.
With that said, my husband is not wimp! Let’s see how Kim reacts when So Cal is faced with their first pine apple express weather phenomenon of the year….. Stay dry Murphy!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. The hype around this storm was ridiculous in the beginning. Get over it people.
I think it’s kind of funny because we are wimps around here. I love it though because we get out of not having to work or play. I lived 6 years in CT and 6 years in CO and this is nothing compared to those areas. This area is getting better. When we first moved here there was just snow forecasted they would shut everything down before it even happened. Now they are waiting a little longer to close things down. I would, though, rather be safe then sorry.
Horrrraaaay for MJ Milton !! I also lived in the East..they are more prepared…they get more snow..but they also don’t have the hills and all the trees we have in this beautiful part of Washington !! We are not wimps. The wimps I have seen are the out of state licenses that I have seen in ditches and upside down.
Four to six inches of snow would not have been so bad except for the round of ice we had !! We have had it all in the past two days. I am glad thing shut down early…I had Grandkids and my kids having to go to school or working and I rested better know they were safe at home !! Thank you weaather forecasters !!
I take exception to Tristan’s headline. Kim Murphy may live on Bainbridge Island, but it’s blatantly obvious she’s not a Bainbridge Islander. And when did we allow anyone from Southern Cal to lecture us on snow? She must be an expert. All of the elements come together to make this one of the hardest places to get around when the snow falls. People who squawk the loudest about how we can’t handle the snow are usually out-of-state flatlanders, coming from places with the equipment and the budget to take care of the mess. Kim, you made a hasty and stupid assertion, take your lumps and quit while you’re ahead… er, behind.