Weather Service: It's snow big deal

By Ian Ith
Seattle Times staff reporter

	STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Matthew Collins tries to make the most of an inch of snow, still gaining enough speed to fly over a patch of gravel at the end of a grassy hill at Sunny Hills Elementary school in Sammamish.
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For a region whose hills, dales and general lack of experience cause a general paralysis every time it snows, last night's snowfall over Western Washington could be considered merciful.

Overnight, Mother Nature offered a glimpse of white blankets, crystalline tree branches, snowballs and snowmen. And then she served up above-freezing morning temperatures that allowed the commute to be all but hassle-free.

Though snow was still falling off and on this morning, major highways and arterials were mostly free of snow and ice by daybreak. While the State Patrol reported several snow-related accidents, spin-outs and cars in ditches, the major snarls of past snowstorms were nonexistent. Public-transportation authorities reported few problems, thanks in part to the fact that a lot of people were taking New Years Eve off work. No major power failures were reported.

In short, the only real snowfall of 2003 went pretty well.

"I just drove down from Everett," said Brian Barker, of Silver Cup Coffee Co. in Snohomish County, who was delivering latte cups to Jitters Coffee in Redmond about 7:45 a.m. this morning. "The roads were bare and wet, the highways easy and there was no traffic."

The National Weather Service this morning reported that a cold front blew through Western Washington beginning around midnight and deposited between one and three inches of snow, depending on the area.

Seattle got about an inch. North Bend got about three.

But by 8 a.m., temperatures rose to around 34 degrees at the weather service's station at Sand Point. And it was raining at the Tacoma Narrows.

The region will get a reprieve from snow accumulation through the New Year holiday, with rain and perhaps a little snow mixed in, but nothing that will pile up, said Allen Kam, a weather service meteorologist. "It's not a big deal," Kam said.

It is expected to get quite cold again by the weekend, though. And that could mean another round of snow, perhaps as much as three inches, Kam said.

By Sunday, a northern front is expected to blow in, bringing a severe chill, with highs never reaching 40 degrees. But it's going to be one of those cold and dry spells, which means no snow, Kam said.

Western Washington could count its blessings.

In Southwest Oregon, people were bracing for yet another blast of harsh weather like the kind that shut down Interstate 5 as it crosses into Northern California and stranded motorists in the Siskiyou Mountains earlier this week.

The Weather Service was predicting heavy snow in the area today and Thursday. It predicted dangerous driving conditions along I-5 between Ashland, Ore., and Mount Shasta City, Calif., above 2,000 feet.

Jared Castle, spokesman of the Oregon Department of Transportation, said many drivers weren't prepared for the storm that closed the Siskiyou pass this week.

"No one thinks about preparing for a storm," he said.

Many motorists were stranded without food, water or sufficient gasoline to keep cars warm until they could be rescued.

In the rest of the state, snow showers were expected to turn to rain in the north west of the Cascades, with an increasing chance of snow showers later in the week.

In Seattle last night, Seattle Department of Transportation used 30 trucks, 20 of them fitted with plows, to clear roads of snow or apply de-icing and anti-icing liquid and sand. Traffic signals on hills and steep grades were adjusted to minimize or eliminate the need for cars to stop.

Liz Rankin, department spokeswoman, said while most major roads were cleared, the melted snow is leaving behind puddles and standing water, which is blocking the visibility of lane lines. Ice and wet roads could be a problem for the rest of the morning, she said.

Officials with Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy reported no outages overnight or this morning.

The worst of the highway troubles appeared centered in Pierce and Thurston counties.

Washington State Patrol Lt. Kelly Quirin said the biggest problems were at the U.S. Highway 101 junction with Interstate 5 in Olympia, and also along Interstate 5 near the Nisqually River Bridge, and on state Route 512 near Puyallup. Dozens of minor accidents and spinouts stalled traffic. The most serious was a one-car rollover about 6 a.m. near Mounts Road, just north of the Nisqually River.

Bob Jones, spokesman for the Washington Department of Transportation, said the state used 95 plows and 14 anti-icing trucks last night from the Canadian border south to Pierce County. He said crews reported no significant accidents or blockages, especially in the passes or the major corridors, Interstate 90, state Route 520 and Interstate 5. Chains were required for trucks crossing Stevens Pass.

"The news is that there were so few problems," Jones said.

Metro transit mechanics last night put chains on all 1,300 buses in preparation for the snow, and shifted some routes to avoid certain hills, said Linda Thielke, a Metro spokeswoman. But it became clear by the morning that most buses didn't need the chains, and the routes were being returned to normal. Ridership was light anyway because of the holiday, Thielke said.

"We were prepared for the worst and it served us well," Thielke said. "But the snow wasn't as intense as it could have been."

Bus riders who want to know if their routes are altered can call Metro at 206-553-3000.

Seattle Public Utilities officials said garbage collection in Seattle should be normal today, and crews were expected to reach every customer by the end of the day. However, if anyone's trash hasn't been picked up by 6 p.m. today, it should be taken off the curb until next week. No one will be charged for extra trash next Wednesday, said J. Paul Blake, a utilities spokesman.

Staff reporters Michael Ko, Sherry Grindeland, Christopher Schwarzen and Jennifer Sullivan, and the Associated Press, contributed to this report Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com

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