Don't let the sun fool you — it's still slick

The skies are clear, the sun is shining and the mountain is out. So how bad could it be?

Plenty bad, if you ask the Seattle-area motorists who spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning sledding around streets and highways transformed into ice rinks by snow and bone-chilling temperatures. Hundreds of abandoned cars littered the roadsides.

Today could bring more of the same as the cold, the icy roads and even the sun are expected to figure into the morning commute, warned State Patrol Trooper Mark Lewis. The forecast of cold but clear weather, coupled with the frosty streets and highways, could make for treacherous driving throughout the region, he said.

"[Motorists] see the sun in the sky and think everything is fine they get braver," Lewis said. "Slow it down, increase your distance and be prepared for another icy morning."

No additional snow is expected today or into the weekend, but forecasters are predicting below-freezing temperatures during nighttime hours. Daytime temperatures in the Puget Sound region should hover in the low 30s, meteorologist Chris Burke said. Overnight lows are expected to be in the upper teens.

Saturday and Sunday should bring daytime temperatures in the mid-30s. By Monday, they'll climb into the 40s.

While much of the snow that fell in the region earlier this week melted as temperatures warmed above freezing Thursday, enough remained behind to refreeze overnight on roads. Motorists this morning and this evening should take particular care driving over bridges, freeway overpasses and other elevated structures like Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, said Erin Bogenschutz, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

Seattle, several Eastside cities and the DOT planned to have sanders on standby and working overnight and into the morning to help ease the commute.

In Snohomish County, which received several inches of snow Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the county's roads-maintenance division planned to use its 34 plow-equipped trucks to sand the 1,674 miles of roads under its jurisdiction.

"We know with the melt-off today [Thursday] and the cold temperatures [Thursday night], we're going to have ice in the morning, so we're working hard to prepare the roads for that," said Steve Pratt, director of the division. Thursday afternoon's commute was unusually good, according to the DOT. Major highways were mostly dry and ice-free and there were fewer cars on the road.

"It was pretty much wide-open. I think a lot of people stayed home," said Jerome Drescher, a DOT flow operator. Between 3 p.m. Wednesday and around noon Thursday, the State Patrol responded to 227 weather-related collisions in King County. In Pierce County, the State Patrol responded to 128 weather-related collisions. In Snohomish, Whatcom, Island and Skagit counties, troopers investigated a total of 100 collisions.

Eastside Fire and Rescue added two aid cars to prepare for the increased risk of weather-related accidents, and put chains on all vehicles, Battalion Chief Brian McMahan said Thursday evening.

Cars abandoned by motorists during Wednesday's snow-slowed commute littered roadsides in South and East King County late Thursday morning.

In Bellevue, at least 50 cars were abandoned in the Lakemont neighborhood because of snow, Officer Greg Grannis said.

That's illegal, he said, and drivers should have taken alternative routes into the neighborhood instead of the steep Lakemont Boulevard, which became nearly impassable. Police were impounding cars.

One of the worst abandoned-vehicle graveyards was along East Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast and the Northeast Inglewood Hill Road, where more than 200 cars and trucks were left scattered along the shoulders Thursday morning.

Tow-truck drivers were removing the blocking vehicles as rapidly as possible –– at $154 a pop.

Nicky Beedle of Sammamish, who was helping a friend retrieve her car, recalled with amazement how quickly Wednesday's storm arrived.

"It happened so fast," Beedle said. "Within 15 minutes, the roads were impassable. It was just mayhem."

The snowfall that ended early Thursday brought anywhere from a dusting to several inches of snow to a wide swath of Western Washington. Nine inches of snow fell at Snoqualmie Ridge, 10 inches in Sultan and 7 inches in Bellingham. In Seattle, 5 inches fell in Beacon Hill while other areas got very little snow.

The snow and the hazardous driving conditions forced dozens of school districts to cancel classes Thursday, giving some 330,000 students in King and Snohomish counties a sudden holiday.

Many of the students took advantage of the snow day.

In snow pants and ski hats, children swarmed the hills of Lake Wilderness Golf Course in Maple Valley, loading four to a sled, sliding down, then trudging up for another try.

At Lake Wilderness Lodge, Jadon Cluett, 10, said he knew these days off might mean time taken out of his summer. But June is pretty cold and is not the best vacation month anyway, he said.

In Seattle, Al Poole, director of homelessness intervention, said the city will keep additional homeless shelters open through Monday and is asking places such as Seattle Center and the library to be lenient about letting homeless people warm up inside.

Times staff reporters Peyton Whitely, Ashley Bach, Brian Alexander, Christine Clarridge, Amy Roe, Christopher Schwarzen and Cara Solomon contributed to this report. Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com