(Scroll/refresh for the latest info at BOTTOM of this post – 12:13 PM UPDATED QUICK SUMMARIES OF REPORTED SUNDAY CLOSURES/CHANGES/ETC: Farmers’ Market canceled – No church at Westside Unitarian – Admiral Sings Christmas postponed to 12/28 – ADMIRAL LIBRARY OPEN, OTHERS IN WS CLOSED – BOTH YMCAs CLOSED – SANTA PHOTOS AT CUPCAKE ROYALE ARE STILL ON, TILL 3:30 PM – SANTA PHOTOS ALSO ARE STILL ON AT WESTWOOD VILLAGE, TILL 4 PM – “PLAID TIDINGS” SHOWS ARE ALL STILL ON AT ARTSWEST – AMA-AMA OPEN FOR BRUNCH – HOTWIRE COFFEE OPEN – ENDOLYNE JOE’S, ORIGINAL BAKERY OPEN – TIBBETTS UMC “BLUE CHRISTMAS” SERVICE CANCELED – CLICK HERE FOR METRO BUS ROUTE UPDATES)
Snow can be fun, too, as that photo of Jackson Colby, shared by dad Mark, reminds us. And after many long hours of windblown snow, today will be interesting, in ways both fun and not-so-fun. We’re opening this post early, to start with earlybirds sharing info about road conditions and other discoveries. A few reminders: The West Seattle Farmers’ Market is canceled for today, according to word we got from organizers a few days ago. There’s still a tentative plan for Santa photos and other Hometown Holidays cheer to be on in The Junction noon-4 pm as scheduled; if that changes, we will let you know here. Got a closure, cancellation, road report, something else to share? Please post it as a comment here till we restart our “live updates.”
9:07 AM UPDATE: Official Sea-Tac update says it’s open BUT many airlines have cancellations. Just got word from Seattle Public Library management that only five branches are open in the city today – one is the West Seattle (Admiral) branch, which will open at noon. Jessie from Skylark Club and Cafe (WSB sponsor) e-mailed, “Skylark is postponing brunch for a few hours. Hopefully that gives everyone the chance to get in, and the weather will clear up a bit. We are aiming to open at 11:30am.” Metro update:
Once again due to the weather and dangerous driving conditions, King County Metro Transit will be operating approximately half of its normal bus service for Sunday, Dec. 21.
Please check the Metro Online website before you leave home to see if your bus route is operating and if it is on snow routing; and note that travel conditions can change quickly so the list of disrupted service may be revised at any time due to weather and road conditions.
Heavy snowfall in the past 24 hours, particularly in the Seattle area, has closed roads and made travel difficult. In order to safely transport as many passengers as possible, Metro is focusing on providing bus service on cleared highways and arterial roads, and to major transit centers and park-and-ride lots that normally have Sunday service.
As of early Sunday morning, Metro plans to offer its Seahawks shuttle service to Qwest Field from Eastgate Park-and-Ride in Bellevue, Northgate Park-and-Ride in North Seattle, and the South Kirkland Park-and-Ride.
These shuttles will begin service at approximately 11 a.m. Fans should expect crowded conditions on the shuttles, and should give themselves plenty of time to get to the game because the buses may be delayed by road and traffic conditions. Another transit provider handles service from the Federal Way and Kent park-and-ride lots, and does expect to provide shuttle service from those locations today.
For regular Metro service on Sunday, passengers should be prepared to board buses at major transit centers, flat arterials, or at the top or bottom of hills. Please dress warmly, wear appropriate footwear, and be prepared to wait. The buses that are running could be significantly delayed by road and traffic conditions.
At 35th and Othello, this photo (thank you to whoever sent it – we have only a number, not a name) was headed “(Fire) Station 37 digs out”:
9:21 AM UPDATE: Robin Ennis-Cantwell from Barnes and Noble at Westwood Village writes, “Just want to let you know that several members of our staff walked in this morning so we (opened) at 9:00 a.m. for all our neighborhood Christmas shoppers. Please be safe and careful if you are driving or walking to our store!” This morning’s SDOT update via Twitter:
City working on Seattle streets with 21 plows/sanders. 3 trucks are dedicated solely to the West Seattle Bridge and Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Photo of “the top” of Avalon Way, from Babs:
9:36 AM UPDATE: The Admiral Theater IS STILL GOING AHEAD WITH FREE SHOWING OF “A CHRISTMAS STORY” – the movie’s at 11 am, the theater’s doors will likely open around 10:45. Another update from SDOT:
Primary/secondary roads around Qwest Field are passable – largely hard packed snow but drivable. Crews continue to work area for game.
Leighellen e-mails with word that THE 10:30 HOPE LUTHERAN SERVICE IS STILL ON. Update from Seattle Parks:
Some Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities are open today until 4 p.m., including Delridge, Hiawatha, Rainier Beach, Rainier and South Park community centers; Ballard, Helene Madison, Rainier Beach and Southwest pools; and Amy Yee Tennis Center. All regularly scheduled programming has been canceled, but drop-in use of these facilities is available. Public golf courses, including Jackson Park, Interbay, West Seattle and Jefferson Park are closed for golf, but are open for sledding.
Reminder: All the city/state traffic cams with particular West Seattle relevance are on the WSB Traffic page, including the two at Fauntleroy/Alaska and 35th/Fauntleroy, which has been looking at the bridge approach during the storm instead of its usual view back up 35th. Please send road pix if/when you go out – editor@westseattleblog.com (other snow pix welcome too!) – we just got one in from Barton looking toward Westwood Village – Sara shot this from 22nd/Barton looking west toward the shopping center:
9:53 AM UPDATE: Josh at West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) says BOTH WEST SEATTLE Y’S WILL BE CLOSED TODAY. Public service reminder from co-publisher Patrick, who just shoveled half a foot of snow off our walkways: “As a veteran of the ’96 storm, KNOW WHERE YOUR STORM DRAINS ARE and go clear them” — whenever this starts melting, we could wind up with “ponding” if the drains are blocked with snow/ice.
Lora Lewis at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) says they’re open, till 5 pm today, and here’s the proof:
More Junction photos from Ian (who writes the excellent site Conversation Marketing, one of 100 West Seattle-based sites whose latest entries appear on the WSB Blogs page), just back from a walk along California SW:
Alaska looking east from 42nd SW:
And California at Dakota:
Ian’s entire photo set from this morning is here. Meantime, a WSB housekeeping note – we have shortened the front page a bit in hopes of making it a bit easier to load – usually we have the 27 newest posts because we file about 12 news updates a day and that gets people through 2 days’ worth – but since each post during the weather crisis here is running mega-long with tons of photos, etc., and we’re only filing a few “other news” stories, the page is now 10 posts long, till normalcy resumes (a day or two?). You can still see everything else by clicking “next page” at the very bottom of the home page, or using other means of navigation – see our “WSB Categories” list in the right sidebar – each of those “categories” brings you the archive, newest to oldest, of all the WSB stories labeled with those categories, going all the way back to the site’s start three years ago.
10:33 AM UPDATE: Cliff Mass just published his postmortem on yesterday and look ahead. More precipitation’s on the way, but even he says it’s a question whether it’ll be snow, rain, or freezing rain. Read his update here. Meantime, let’s all dream of summer barbecues:
That came in from a cell phone so didn’t get a name, but thanks! Also, a reminder from Liz V – we have been out to tend our birdbath and we’ve seen the “early robins” she mentions:
Those of us who keep the bird/hummingbird feeders filled need to know that these guys also need fresh water to stay warm. (Apparently, they need it to fluff their feathers even in the frigid weather!) My fountain froze over long ago, so I’ve been going out every few hours to pour hot water into it. They’ve also whistled up their friends and are flocking (!) to it. The early returning robins also need it to survive.
WSB Forum members have been discussing the caring-for-birds challenge too. Just in from Susan Melrose at the (WSB sponsor) West Seattle Junction Association – SANTA PHOTOS ARE ON AT CUPCAKE ROYALE, NOON TO 3:30 PM. There will NOT be a booth by KeyBank with wreath sales or prize drawings, but she WILL draw the final winner(s) in the $5,000 giveaway and notify them by phone. Again, the Santa photos are by donation, and that $ goes to three great West Seattle nonprofits (WestSide Baby, West Seattle Food Bank, West Seattle Helpline), so if you can get there safely, go see Santa! We hope to be able to take a Junction trip ourselves in a couple hours.
If you don’t regularly check the WSB Forums – they’re worth a look in times like these – just found somebody, for example, hoping to find some help getting to work (read the post here). The Forums are always a place for West Seattleites helping West Seattleites (as well as spirited conversation too).
10:58 AM UPDATE: More from Lora at Hotwire – photo of California SW looking south from her shop (which is at Genesee on the north edge of The Junction):
And Lora’s photo looking NORTH on Cali:
Also from The Junction, Ama-Ama Oyster Bar and Grill (WSB sponsor) is open for brunch.
11:11 AM UPDATE: Thanks to the cell-phoner who sent this photo of Thriftway digging out in Morgan Junction (we caught a photo of this guy a couple days ago – apparently he also clears some areas of his neighborhood up near central 35th SW):
Renee sent the following photo saying “Fire chief Michael wanted you to know how much snow we got in the Junction area” (closer inspection reveals 7″):
11:20 AM UPDATE: Shannon sends word from Fauntleroy that Endolyne Joe’s and The Original Bakery are open. Pix in a moment. Meantime, lightly snowing again in Upper Fauntleroy, and on Twitter, County Exec Ron Sims sends word: “King County Operations Center: Another band of snow expected around 2:00 pm today. Expected to bring a trace – 2″ within our area.” Also from Twitter, word that Chelan Cafe is open. Now, those pix from Shannon:
Lincoln Park view looking northeast:
And the curve looking east just before Fauntleroy Church and YMCA (both WSB sponsors; reminder, the Y is closed today, both WS branches):
Today we hope to make more headway on our ongoing list of West Seattle Christmas Eve/Day church services on the Holidays page (if you have knowledge of what’s up with your church, please e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com). Meanwhile, though our Farmers’ Market is closed (with the exception apparently of ONE intrepid vendor, Seabreeze Farm, which decided to show up anyway), Ballard went ahead with its Farmers’ Market, per our friends at MyBallard.com.
11:47 AM UPDATE: Word from Tibbetts UMC church that the Blue Christmas service for tonight is canceled. Meantime, Jim e-mails from the Othello hill at 40th:
We found you last week, and love the information that is being shared. Check out the pictures. The wind that blew last night is evident from the cornice hanging over our deck, and check out the difference in snow depth on the rail. Now, the snow has started falling again. I haven’t driven since Saturday the 13th. The mrs., Lisa, took us for a spin on Wednesday, but we’re not going anywhere again
for a while.
We can identify. Jim’s pic:
11:57 AM: Via Twitter, tithonium sent word that Chelan Cafe (3527 Chelan SW; here’s a map) is open (as mentioned earlier and added to quick notes atop this post) and also this pic:
Now it’s SERIOUSLY snowing here at WSB HQ – fluffier flakes than the fine stuff last night, no doubt since it’s warmer. Also just out of the inbox, Paul sent this long road report – the comments are full of road reports (and they may soon be outdated if this new snow lasts long) but wanted to share it up here too since it was via e-mail:
Sun 10-11am.
General info – roads are passable and people are getting around. Not a lot of traffic.
Main roads generally well sanded, but not much plowing, so lots of snow on road in
many places.
Lots of snow in median and on the sides, so everything is pretty much one lane each
way.
Intersections can be tricky if you have to make a turn thru all the snow.
Things do not appear to be icey, slipperyness (is that a word?) is more a function
of lots of soft, generally sanded snow. Pictures submitted earlier by others will
give you a good idea what things look like.We took the AWD Subaru – new all season tires, chains not on, but have them.
Barton St east, cross 35th to Westwood Village – okay – pretty quiet at WW Village.
Barton has been pretty heavily sanded and has had a fair amount of traffic.
The 54 bus has been getting up and down Barton pretty well since 8 or 9 am.
We did see 2 come up within 10 minutes of each other, so there may have been some
delays earlier this morning. I did not go down to the Ferry doc to see how things
are, but since buses and cars are coming up okay, I am guessing it’s fine.Cut over to Roxbury and went all the way east down the Olsen Place hill across the
overpass and turned around in South Park. Once you clear 16th or so, it drops into
one driveable lane each way, with a fair amount of snow on the road. Quite a bit
of unplowed snow on the hill still Saw one minivan having difficulty starting back
up the hill. If you take it easy and either have AWD drive, or FW with chains, you
should be okay.Came back up and then took Delridge north to under the West Seattle Bridge.
Quite a bit of traffic – speed about 20 mph. Some folks are being very cautious.
No problem though, It is all flat. The Home Depot appeared open, but not doing
much business.Avalon up to 35th. Qyite a bit of unplowed snow on the upside, but with AWD and
new tires, it was no problem. Downhill side appeared to have been plowed and very heavily sanded, so going down Avalon should be a piece of cake.35th South to Barton St. One driveable lane each way. Still lots of snow on the road. Start out slowly from the lights if going up hill – don’t get those tires spinning.
Many side roads look deep, lightly travelled and I am sure are loads of fun, especially the hilly ones. But if you can get out to the main roads you should do okay. I see it is lightly snowing again….so you all be careful out there.
12:17 PM UPDATE: We will keep the morning post going till 1 pm – thinking Seahawks game time is a good time for switchover! Meantime, per a request in comments, we checked on Santa status at Westwood Village. Robin at Barnes and Noble kindly walked over to check for us. Short answer – YES! So Santa is in at Westwood till 4 pm, Cupcake Royale in The Junction at 3:30 pm. What a guy. Speaking of Westwood, Shell sent a recent photo:
Maybe they need the Thriftway snowscooper (shown earlier in this post). Up near the 35th/Myrtle reservoir and water towers, Scott C caught this “hardy soul” cross-country skiing:
12:30 PM UPDATE: From Tamsen near 38th/Morgan – again, remember your feathered friends:
And the SW Morgan hill, looking west/downhill from 38th within the past hour:
A closer look:
12:50 PM UPDATE: Hope it doesn’t hang the site – let me know if it does – but we added a Sea-Tac Airport cam to the right sidebar since so many people have to TRY to get there. It’s right below the bridge cam. Latest live image. Also, some pix just in from Thayer at 35th/Roxbury. First, Roxbury looking east:
And 35th looking north:
Thanks again SO VERY MUCH to everyone who’s been sending pix, sharing info in comments and via e-mail and Twitter and Facebook, and calling when no other means of communication works (206-293-6302) …
1:03 PM UPDATE: About to start the afternoon update, with a long city update. Short story, though, MONDAY TRASH SERVICE IS LIKELY TO BE POSTPONED. For those of us on Monday pickup, that’s two consecutive weeks … more shortly.
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