Landscapes and environments around elementary schools are not equal. What is your local elementary school like?
Given the polar vortex that just hit the Pacific Northwest states, it is prudent that I include snow accumulation and weather data so that you can rest assured you will have a game plan getting your child to school safely.
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Planning on moving to Pierce County? Building a house? Checkout the Pierce County Residential Impervious Surfaces Guides through the logo on the right.
Figure 1: Areas within the first two contours of Pierce County looking Northwest from the mountain can expect on average 15 pounds/ sq. feet of snow but no more than 30 in the snow season. Areas that range beyond that towards the yellow to red contours can expect numbers in the hundreds. The three elementary schools in these areas can expect anywhere from 30-45 pounds/ sq. feet of snow.
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*Measurements are not in inches.
Figure 2: While Tacoma is emerging as a green city, a large portion of the city does fall under the most impervious category. It also contains smaller footprints for most of the elementary schools.
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Considering what is shown above, there is considerable watch for snow melt and sidewalk flooding due to the concentration of impervious surfaces.
Figure 3: While the whole of Puyallup tends to be less impervious than Tacoma, it can still be observed that many feeder zones for its elementary schools in the heart of downtown tend to be impervious.
Figure 4: Pierce County's designation of urban and non urban elementary schools.
Figure 5: Aerial imagery of Pierce County elementary schools without anything overlayed so you can observe greenery density or lack there of.
