Forecast: More freezing temperatures, more snow

Don't put away that ice scraper quite yet — if you can even find one to buy.

The National Weather Service predicts freezing temperatures through next weekend and snow falling late Tuesday and Wednesday — music to the ears of winter-sports fanatics, anathema to beleaguered retailers counting on a final Christmas rush.

Saturday night's initial snowfall sent Puget Sound-area children scurrying for sledding hills as tires spun for traction beneath blue skies Sunday. West Seattle, King County's rural regions and Snohomish County bore the brunt of snow-and-ice-related accidents and road closures. To the south, the snow and ice were so bad in Portland that transportation officials required chains on all metro highways and briefly shut down Interstate 5.

The forecast

Prepare for what could become the coldest spell in nearly two decades, according to the National Weather Service. Today should be mostly sunny with highs around 30 and lows down to the teens. On Tuesday expect sun, highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s with a chance of snow. Snow should fall Wednesday, with highs in the lower 30s. Check www.wrh.noaa.gov/seattle/ for the latest forecast.

Your commute

Transportation crews are mobilizing in the wee hours this week to sand and de-ice major streets and hills. King County Metro expected Sunday night it would chain up many of its buses for icy conditions today. Officials with Metro and Community Transit in Snohomish County recommend that if your bus stop is icy, check your paper bus schedule or online for the snow route. Dress warmly in case of delays, and wait at the top or bottom of hills so the bus can avoid stopping in the middle.

Out and about

In Seattle, about 75 percent of the 24th-annual Jingle Bell Run's 12,000 participants still turned out to slip and slide through city streets Sunday morning, said Kelsey Birnbaum, of the National Arthritis Foundation's Pacific Northwest Chapter.

West Seattle's Junction True Value hardware store was out of snow shovels, ice scrapers and other equipment by early afternoon.

With just 11 days until Christmas, it felt like a slow weekday at the Alderwood mall around noon Sunday, with plenty of parking and short lines and free tables in the food court.

Kristen Parkinson woke up to 4 or 5 inches of snow at her rural Snohomish County home, but she, her husband and two kids still made the 45-minute drive to Alderwood for holiday shopping.

The mall felt empty, she said. She figured people were scared away by the snow, but it made for a pleasant day at the mall.

"It's easier to get in and out and do your thing," she said.

Retailers said the morning was slow, but mall traffic had picked up by 1 or 2 p.m.

Saturday was busy, said Becky Keithley, store manager at Fred Meyer Jewelers, but Sunday was really slow. "At any time of the year, Saturday and Sunday are packed," she said. "We anticipated a lot more."

But it was a snow occasion for Dash Napier, 4, and his dad Barry, of Everett. They spent Saturday night watching and talking snow and on Sunday, they headed to Sen. Henry M. Jackson Park in Everett for Dash's first time sledding. They joined neighbors on a speedy toboggan. Later, Dash dropped onto his back and made a snow angel.

"It's fun to make footprints," Dash said.

Lots of kids had the same idea and flocked to the park, where some kids built an impromptu ramp out of snow at the bottom of a hill and sailed off it over and over again. Sleds included Tupperware lids, inner tubes and a sandwich-board sign advertising a sale.

In Seattle's Volunteer Park, Jon Ramsay, 9, spent the morning building snowmen with dad Doug Ramsay, flanked by a cacophony of kids on sleds and snowy dogs. In a white meadow across the park, 4-year-old Grace Hove and father Dean Hove laughed in the snow, where she'd recently made snow angels.

Not far away, kids barreled down small hills on sleds until the grass peeked through.

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618 or kgaudette@seattletimes.com