Apparently Bellingham hadn't used any of it's snow removal equipment for many years, so it sold it all.
I grew up in Wisconsin and Michigan. SO i learned to drive in the snow as a 3rd grader on my Honda ATC 90, then racing on the frozen ponds as a 15 year in a 74 Plymouth Duster I bought for $15 because it had no exhaust and only ran in reverse. My buddy welded a straight pipe right off the manifold and out the hood. Good times.
4" is enough to scare the wits out of most people here north of Seattle. And yes, we live on a very steep hill. The legitimate problem is that it doesn't really get removed so it turns into a sheet of ice.
I went to Christmas Eve at my sis in law's on steep hill in Magnolia and I couldn't believe the cars stacked up into each other at various levels of the hill. Ouch. THey just keep sliding until another car breaks their free fall.
If you want to dig out the classics, youtube search portland ice car '07 .