Cold front sheds snow across Western Washington

By Maria Gonzalez
Seattle Times staff reporter

	MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES A fallen tree along Northeast 197th Street near Horizon View Park in Lake Forest Park this morning forces a taxi to pick a different route. Downed trees caused several road closures and power outages in the area.
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The shift in weather dropped the snow level from 7,500 feet at 4 p.m. yesterday to 2,000 feet at 4 a.m. today, said Johnny Burg with the National Weather Service.

Light rain and snow were to continue in some areas, but likely will taper off later in the morning, with today's highs around 40 degrees, Burg said. Rising temperatures this morning were already melting away snow at lower elevations.

Seattle City Light reported 4,000 customers were without power this morning after a large tree fell on power lines. A total of 5,000 in the Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and North Green Lake areas were without power when the outage first hit. Crews were restoring power to the North Green Lake and Aurora Ave areas and expected full power to be restored later this afternoon.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District reported that about 12,000 customers were without power, primarily in Everett and Snohomish. About 2,000 were from yesterday's high winds. There was no indication of when that power might be restored.

By 1 p.m., only about 3,500 Snohomish County PUD customers were still powerless. Those outages were sprinkled throughout the county.

Roger Serra, director of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management, said officials were expecting 3 to 6 inches of snow in south Snohomish County through the morning.

Serra said the Stillaguamish, Skykomish and Snohomish rivers were about 1 to 2 feet above flood stage this morning, with the Snohomish expected to crest at about 5 feet above flood stage at about 1 p.m. While some low-land flooding was expected, he said, no evacuation orders were anticipated.

Temperatures tonight are expected to be in the mid to upper 30s from Seattle to Everett, Burg said. Rain is likely to hit tonight, but snow in the Seattle and Everett areas is not likely, though some parts of the Central Cascades might get as much as 20 inches of snow throughout the day.

"If you see a snowflake or two don't be surprised. But don't expect a big snow fall like this morning," he said.

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