Are you tired of the relentless accumulation and stagnant heaps of snow this winter? Well, you’re not alone. Record-setting snowfall amounts in Spokane, Washington, are provoking some residents to exhibit “snow rage,” a term coined last winter, when police in Quebec blamed snow piles for inspiring “a rash of snowblower thefts and incited at least two armed clashes.”
Excessive snowfalls in Spokane are testing everyone’s patience, reports The Week (subscription required for online access), with two instances of residents threatening snowplow operators this season. The first invoved a homeowner armed with a gun, yelling from his driveway that he didn’t want to be blocked in by a snow berm. Shortly after, an anonymous caller warned the city that if another snowplow came down his street, the driver would be shot. The call was traced to the man’s house. About two weeks later another man allegedly shot at a snowplow operator after the driver honked at him while trying to clear a parking lot.
The unrelenting snow in Spokane is disrupting schools, traffic, garbage pickup, and mail service. Last week National Guard troops were dispatched to the area to help clean up the city’s surplus snowfall.
Image by MGShelton licensed under Creative Commons.
