Yesterday's Snow is Today's Slush

Jan. 7, 2004
By Maria Gonzalez and Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporters

The snow that blanketed Puget Sound yesterday has given way to slush and freezing rain, which has left thousands without power this morning.

Seattle City Light officials reported about 20,000 homes and businesses in the dark, and Puget Sound Energy officials estimated some 80,000 customers in the suburbs and outlying areas were without power.

Puget Sound Energy crews worked throughout the morning to restore power to more than 80,000 customers, but even as they fixed some outages, more were created by falling branches and downed lines, said Dorothy Bracken, a spokeswoman.

As of noon, power was back to all of Vashon Island and Kitsap County, Bracken said. But there still remained 80,000 customers scattered widely throughout King County without power. Areas included Woodinville, Bothell, Kenmore, Remond, Duvall, Bellevue, Juanita, Issaquah, SeaTac, and Black Diamond. Most outages were small, effecting small neighborhoods. But there were a lot of them.

Snohomish Public Utilities District reported about 20,000 customers without power this morning. Customers in parts of Clearview and Maltby, and Edmonds, Lynnwood and Everett will remain without power as crews work to move branches off power lines, spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.

The PUD has dispatched about 20 crews to begin restoring power and expects more to be in the field later this morning.

About 35,000 Seattle City Light customers were without power in areas of Lake Forest Park, some customers in Shoreline and in unincorporated King County around Sea-Tac.

Morning temperatures near the 30s brought freezing rain to some areas. The weather is expected to gradually warm up through the day, and the snow will continue to melt and turn into slush. Cold northeastern winds will keep temperatures low around Bellingham, said meteorologist Allen Kam with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

"It's more of how long is it going to take for the slush to melt away," he said. A series of weather systems sliding into the area are bringing rain today and tomorrow, which will trigger urban flood warnings.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was crowded this morning after Alaska Airlines canceled many of its flight because of the weather.

Yesterday's snowfall turned many streets into impromptu sledding hills, closed government and business offices all over the Puget Sound region and gave school kids a reason for joy.

Despite hundreds of accidents, no fatalities were reported.

Many school remained closed today.

On Queen Anne Hill, Mike Stanwood, 35, was sledding with friends and his daughter.

"It was a blast!" he said later. "I'm a kid at heart, and I'll always take a snow day."

At Pike Place Market, where the food stalls were ghostly silent, a mailman delivered mail, a golden retriever fetched a ball, and a pair of twentysomething roommates freed from having to go to work were out exploring and amusing themselves.

A man from Le Panier Bakery took a cardboard box from the recycling bin and sledded down Stewart Street. "How often does it snow in downtown Seattle and stick?" said Mike Foster, 25, who only made it halfway down the hill.

Snowfall depths of up to 9 inches were reported throughout Western Washington, with Southwest Washington and the Kitsap Peninsula hit the hardest. In Kitsap County, roads were so bad that by 6:30 p.m., all but one taxi service reportedly pulled cabs off the road.

The biggest road problems might have been in Pierce County, where the snow severely limited visibility on Interstate 5.

"It's solid white," said Washington State Patrol Trooper Johnny Alexander. "You can't even tell where the lanes are."

Some areas east and south of Seattle reported up to a foot of snow.

The most serious of dozens of accidents occurred about 6:30 a.m. on the west end of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, when a bus slid on a slight rise in the bridge and blocked both westbound lanes for more than an hour. There was a seven-mile backup, Alexander said.

The freeway onramps and offramps were another problem, Alexander said. Cars couldn't get any traction and didn't make it up the ramps.

Other accidents shut down lanes on I-5 near Mercer Street in Seattle, and city crews switched traffic lights to flashing yellow so arterial traffic didn't have to stop.

Seattle police tallied more than 50 accidents yesterday morning, none serious, while Bellevue reported 100. In Snohomish County, the State Patrol said there were 102 traffic accidents between midnight and 3 p.m. yesterday because of the snow and icy roads. Most of the crashes - 75 - were on I-5 between Everett and the Skagit County line, said Trooper Lance Ramsay. "We had lots of bent fenders but no fatalities," he said.

The bad weather created concerns for the homeless. The Seattle Public Safety Building at 610 Third Ave. was open last night and will be again tonight for shelter. The building, used in severe weather, is increasing its capacity to 150 beds from 100. Emergency shelter for women is also available at the Frye Hotel, 223 Yesler Way. And Seattle Center has made the Center House available as a day shelter until 6 p.m. today.

Many government offices were closed yesterday, and the state Department of Transportation's online traffic-camera page received so many hits that the server became overwhelmed and shut down for awhile.

Some folks who decided to brave the weather to get to work changed their minds when the heavier snowfall began.

Tim Gieck left his home in Milton, north of Tacoma, just after 4 a.m. to drive to work at Bon-Macy's in Bellevue. The commute up I-5, normally 45 minutes, took an hour and 15 minutes. But by 7:45 a.m., Gieck was worried about making it home at the end of the day because of snow in Pierce and South King counties and decided to leave. "Besides," he said, "I want to take the kids sledding."

Gieck's co-worker, Aaron Jefferson, lives in Kent and also decided to high-tail it back home after a quick stop at Starbucks. "I've got a bunch of steep hills to navigate," he said, shaking his head. "I've got four-wheel drive, but it's going to be tough."

In Snohomish County, Community Transit said all of its routes were operating, but there were some delays because of road conditions and traffic, spokesman Tom Pearce said. Buses were chained up Monday night, but when the snow didn't come as early as planned, the buses had to be unchained before they could go out on their routes. Then the buses had to be rechained after snow began to coat the roads, around 8 a.m., Pearce said.

"It was a challenge," Pearce said.

If roads are icy, Pearce said passengers on hills should wait for buses at the top or bottom and be sure to flag the bus as it approaches.

"We would tell people to dress warmly, and we hope they will be patient," Pearce said.

Seattle transportation officials closed 28 streets in the city because they were deemed too hazardous, and many became impromptu sledding hills.

People in the Eastlake neighborhood created a festive, apres-ski gathering near the Porta Greek Taverna. Inside, tables were full while on a hill outside, people sledded down, pausing occasionally to warm their hands at a portable fireplace.

Luke Yates, 23, an employee at Forum Snowboards, made the day an unofficial product-testing event as he snowboarded down Harrison Avenue East for a burrito lunch.

But the snowy weather wasn't good business at Eastlake Cleaners. Owner Joon Hang had only a few neighborhood customers and closed early yesterday. In his spare time, he took out a table saw and built a sled for his children, ages 1 and 3.

Eastside firefighters and paramedics were busy attending to the scrapes of kids who ventured into the snow. Meanwhile, two women in the Providence Point retirement community in Issaquah slipped yesterday, one breaking her hip and another breaking her ankle, Eastside Fire and Rescue Capt. Don Turner said.

"They decide they're going to check the mail or whatever, and they slip and fall," Turner said.

Mark Emery, a battalion chief in the Woodinville Fire & Life Safety District, said he had heard of at least a dozen sledding accidents across the Eastside. But it wasn't necessarily children involved. "Anybody with the proper enthusiasm," Emery said.

While the snow was an inconvenience for many, it was no surprise. The National Weather Service had forecast the storm, and even the snow depths were close to what forecasters predicted. The storm just lasted longer than originally thought.

Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Rood said his agency is getting better at predicting the weather because of improved technology. Where once forecasters could only sample a six-mile section of the atmosphere, now they can home in on less than a mile. "Mother Nature can still throw in things," he said. "But we did fairly well on the amounts."

Seattle Times staff reporters Ian Ith, Michael Ko, Jane Hodges, Natalie Singer, Florangela Davila, Sarah Wright, Christine Clarridge, J. Patrick Coolican and Ashley Bach contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press.

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