Last weekend the Eastside got a small taste of the snowfall Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass (are supposed to) normally get during the winter and where I enjoyed a little R&R.

As I was treading through the snow, I thought of a few years back when the Seattle area got hit with a large snowstorm, which was quickly dubbed “snowpocalpse.” I contrasted this with snowstorms I experienced at college near Spokane. The differences between the regions when it snows is like night and day. When it snows a few inches here, schools close and most people stay off the roads. When it snows up to your neck on the east side of the state, you get up and move through the trenches created by the snow plows and get to class.

We on the Eastside, and the Seattle area as a whole, often get a bad rep for not being able to handle our snow when it comes to driving, something I hear when I either run into an out-of-towner or when I’m the out-of-towner. As I explain to them, they’re comparing apples to door hinges.

To start off, snow is not common here. It rains. We can handle that fairly well. If snow was as predictable during the winter as rain, there wouldn’t be so many inexperienced drivers, we’d all buy snow tires and the local jurisdictions would act, not react, to the snow.

Something that gets left out of the discussion is that it’s not just the snow; it’s the ice. Here, it either rains first or snows a little, melts when the temperature rises for a while, and then turns into ice with snow on top of it.

Also, we have these things called hills. Lots of them. It’s easy to drive across straight, flat terrain. Driving down an ice-covered road with a respectably high percent grade (slope) is about as smart as standing up on a saucer sled. It’s also just as difficult driving up that hill. I’ve had to do both, but I’ve also had to put chains on my tires during a snowstorm, and if I can avoid having to do any one of those again I’ll die happy.

Additionally, it’s not the same snow. A square foot of Puget Sound snow is like carrying a brick, and it’s wet. In college it was like shoveling leaves and was as dry as powdered sugar. If you’re driving a vehicle designed to handle it, it’s not important. For a regular car, the difference can be felt when applying the brakes.

I’m not saying there aren’t bad drivers on our roads. I encounter them every day when they try to merge onto Interstate-405. There are also drivers who can’t seem to handle any snow whatsoever on the roads.

I’m just saying we’re not as bad as we’re made out to be.

TJ Martinell is a staff writer with the Kirkland Reporter.