Banyan Branch

Written by Katy Balatero, research analyst, with infographics by Adam Cornille.

Two weeks ago on January 18th, Seattle suffered a blizzard of epic proportions received 4-7 inches of snow, followed by a day of freezing rain that paralyzed the city.

In Seattle we love our coffee strong, our beer bitter, our indie rock bands bearded — and we absolutely love to talk about snow on the rare occasion that it occurs. I took a look at over 10,000 tweets about snow in Seattle from January 11-January 22, 2011, to see what the buzz was all about.

Not surprisingly for a hilly city that becomes treacherous with only a couple of inches of snow and ice, transportation was a major topic of conversation. Out of total tweets about driving a car, bussing, biking, or walking, driving a car was by far the most popular topic, boosted partly by Twitter users who were angry at an LA Times article that criticized “wimpy” Seattle drivers. A few intrepid Seattleites shared information about making DIY studded snow tires … for bikes!

*Percentages are out of total tweets mentioning driving, bussing, biking, or walking

People playing hookey from work or school took to the outdoors en masse; “snow day” was mentioned in 3% of total tweets. Here at Banyan Branch we worked from wherever we could find an Internet connection – social media continues despite acts of weather, of course – with occasional breaks to play in the snow. Below are graphs showing snow sports and other popular snow activities ranked by volume of tweets, with sledding and building snowmen/women getting the most attention.

*Percentages are out of total tweets mentioning these sports.

*Percentages are out of total tweets mentioning these activities.

Seattle is a collection of neighborhoods, each with distinct characteristics. I was curious which ‘hoods were tweeted about the most during the snowy week.

*Percentages are out of total tweets mentioning these neighborhoods.

Popular sledding neighborhood Capitol Hill was mentioned in twice as many tweets as Queen Anne Hill – both are home to some of the steepest sections of street in Seattle. Creative sledders grabbed whatever they could find, from pieces of cardboard boxes to kayaks, sofas, and even wheelchairs.

After a long day of braving the elements, what could be better than finding somewhere warm and cozy and drinking a tasty beverage? Below were the most popular beverages in Twitter discussion:

*Percentages are out of total tweets mentioning these beverages.

Perhaps not surprisingly, coffee was the drink of choice. As Twitter user @NickGravelyn put it: