The Slice: Around here, early birds get the ice

Spokane punishes early risers and rewards slugabeds.

At least our climate does.

Let me explain.

We hear a lot about road-choking snowfalls and face-numbing cold. But the real sphincter-squeezing, seasonal challenge here – in late fall, winter and early spring – is our maddening freeze/thaw cycle.

This temperature treachery traditionally takes a couple of forms.

Rain-slicked streets can turn into zero-traction bobsled runs at 5 a.m. when the thermometer briefly dips below 32 degrees.

Or, once we have some snow and have pushed it aside, it can melt a little on sunny afternoons and effectively wet down streets, sidewalks, driveways and parking lots. Then that water refreezes overnight and all but invites calamity. This happens over and over.

But here’s the thing. Much of the time, you have to get out the door early to notice this.

In Spokane, truly scary road conditions at 6:30 a.m. have often been replaced by ho-hum wet streets at 8:30.

In our area, the predawn early bird stands a good chance of winding up with a cracked tailbone or a vehicle in a roadside ditch.

You think I am exaggerating?

My friend John Livingston at the National Weather Service said Spokane typically has 125 of these over/under days.

Minneapolis, where it gets cold and stays cold, has but 65. Chicago has to cope with 95 such days.

Temperate Seattle doesn’t even register on this list.

But we have to deal with it for about a third of the year.

Of course, it could be worse. Livingston says that Rapid City, S.D., averages 178 days per year where the high temperature is above freezing and the low is below 32.

Maybe “the Rapid City Driver” ought to be a fifth face on Mount Rushmore.

Today’s Slice question: What are the pros and cons of having red hair?