(This post is now closed, as we move on to evening updates here; our morning coverage from 5 am-1 pm is here. Recap of known FRIDAY school closures: SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, HIGHLINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SEATTLE LUTHERAN HS, HOLY ROSARY SCHOOL, WEST SEATTLE MONTESSORI, HOLY FAMILY, HOPE LUTHERAN ALL CANCELED FOR FRIDAY)
Time to start a new multiple-update post – the morning coverage (see it all here) reached epic length including almost 300 comments (really, more like 300 helpful reports – THANK YOU!!!! keep it coming). First info to share comes from Evan Nordby in Westwood:
Thistle between 35th and Delridge is still unplowed/unsanded. Delridge is acceptable south toward White Center… 16th/Ambaum is compact snow/ice, some evidence of plowing, minimal if any sand south to 128th. 128th is tricky over to Des Moines Memorial, and
unplowed/unsanded from there east to Military (where I rescued my girlfriend at 10:30). Measured 5″ on our deck table 5 minutes ago, at 34th and Thistle. Many if not all federal offices are closed (US District and Bankruptcy Courts, Labor, Homeland Security on Tukwila Intl. off the top of my
head)
Evan also sent a pic:
Meantime, SDOT has just reiterated: THE BRIDGE IS OPEN:
West Seattle Bridge Remains Open
SEATTLE–SDOT crews continue to plow and de-ice the high-level West Seattle Bridge today. Several on and off-ramps were closed temporarily due to accidents earlier today, but at this time we are not aware of any closures. Two SDOT trucks are devoted to providing continuous service to the West Seattle Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The on-ramp to I-5 at Sixth Avenue South and South Spokane Street is closed at this time. In addition, 22 SDOT trucks continue to treat major arterial streets throughout the city.
Via Twitter – Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) in the Admiral District is open, and making cocoa for customers.
12:34 PM UPDATE: From Brittany in North Delridge:
11:45 here, and still snowing! i’d say we’ve got a good 5 inches so far. wind is
blowing around like crazy, too. not many cars on the road, but neighbors are out with skis and sleds. we’re on 26th behind the community center and can see the golf course out our back windows- i imagine there will be some activity there before too long. we’re just staying warm inside for now, after some tromping around and obligatory snowball fights!
Accompanying photo:
From 47th and Edmunds (map), MP says Edmunds has become a sledding hill, and also notes the USPS is out delivering there too (hats off to the mail carriers and everyone else with a MUST-DO job today who is out there doing it):
Cami sends video from Alki (the neighborhoods just inland, not the beach itself, anyone got pix from there?):
She adds that a block party is developing nearby (56th/Lander). To recap from the morning update – Bus service this afternoon will be limited, per Metro, and West Seattle, with our wonderful hills, is a particular trouble spot. Full details here.
CLICK AHEAD TO READ MORE OF OUR AS-IT-HAPPENED COVERAGE:
1:05 PM UPDATE: From Aili east of Morgan Junction:
As many likely know, Morgan St. between 35th and Fauntleroy is
closed. It’s treacherous with a layer of ice under the snow. Several buses are stopped, one in an unusual, but effective place. Another car slid it behind it after a short time. People are going around the barriers at the top of the hill at 35th. People, don’t do it. Who cares if you have 4WD? There are lots of people walking the hill and do you really want to slide into someone (saw a close call while I was out taking pictures). This is at 39th and Morgan.
The accompanying photo:
Also, Katie sent this photo of daughter Mary Kate Hart, taken via sled-towing dad to go pick up produce:
More Alki updates, via Twitter. RealLowVibe just walked along and tweeted (sent Twitter messages) of what’s open and closed. Read them here.
1:09 PM UPDATE: Now Metro is just flat-out canceling some routes, according to this. Routes are supposed to be listed on the “adverse weather reroute” page but we’re not seeing cancellations there .. yet. Meantime, to reiterate two cancellations: The Design Review Board meeting and Cooper Elementary school-closure meeting, both planned for tonight, ARE BOTH CANCELED, as we first reported in the morning updates. Weather update – Our peek view to Vashon is CLEARING for the first time today, the snow may really be slowing down. To the north – We’ve had several requests for Alki Beach snow photos, and Anne has just obliged:
Got some more business reports via Twitter — Chris says Delridge Deli Mart, Uptown Espresso, and Subway in North Delridge are all open; Trevor says Luna Park Cafe is open. By the way, if you think we all panic over snow here in Seattle, you’ve never seen anything like the once-every-20-years snow panic in one of your editor’s former hometowns, Las Vegas. Here’s the latest on the aftermath of their big snowfall.
1:39 PM UPDATE: In comments, Cait reports on her trip all around West Seattle. One line says it all: “Even chains aren’t enough in some places.” Better yet – sled. Or snowboard, as Kim says folks are doing in her neighborhood, 37th SW near Roxbury (map):
In fact, earlier we mentioned that the city had closed West Seattle Golf Course to golf but left it open to sledding. The entrance to the golf course is where Billieann caught this photo of what she says they’re calling the golf-course “guard”:
Junior Member of the Team just plaintively wailed, so when are we going to shop for Christmas? Now that the snow has slowed way down – if you can walk to your friendly neighborhood stores, or get there safely some other way (sled?), this is a really big time to SHOP LOCAL … think of this as a dry, OK – not so dry, run for when major road projects (hello, Viaduct) isolate our lovely peninsula a bit more. Keep the businesses in business now, so they’ll be here then. End of soapbox. And segueing right along, we got more info from WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits, which long had planned a big blowout late-shopping open-house event tonight:
Many small businesses ARE open today, including Click! Design That Fits. We’ll have coffee and hot cocoa to warm people up after a brisk walk in the snow. And as of this writing, we are planning on staying open for our scheduled holiday open house party tonight from 6 to 9pm — all are invited, we’ll have appetizers and prosecco (which is getting nicely chilled). We’ve also decided to make the in-store special scheduled for this evening an all day thing: all purchases over $50 get a Mission Gift Card for $5, and all purchases over $100 are 15% off!
Catching up on some pix from earlier – back when the snow was falling fast and furious (was that only an hour or so ago?), Patrick B sent this from his neighborhood near The Junction:
If you went to work today and are starting to plan your trip home, we’ll again plug our WSB Traffic page with the city and state cameras that show most of the relevant routes; find it here. Now another photo from Alki, courtesy of Cathy Woo:
2:01 PM UPDATE: More on the sledding situation at West Seattle Golf Course – Leah e-mailed, “Attached is a pic of me sledding (with my husband, who took the pic) at the West Seattle Golf Course. Lots of snow and pretty good hills for sledding with no threat of traffic. We recommend 4×4 for getting out of the parking lot though. Also saw the ‘guard’ builders on our way in. :) Snow days like this happen once a decade around here!”
Desiree got this photo of cross-country skiers at Fauntleroy/California in Morgan Junction less than half an hour ago:
2:13 PM UPDATE: Alia shares a look at Genesee Hill (55th/Genesee, to be precise), not plowed:
She adds:
I did see a bus make it up here. According to my mom, who just made it out of WS driving, (slowly in low gear, no chains or 4 wheel drive) Glenn Way is also not plowed and
difficult. She said she was behind a plow on the bridge the whole way so it’s sandy snow. But she made it to work, yay! She’s a train engineer and a lot of people are depending on her being there to run the train.
If you’re wondering about the forecast, we checked Cliff Mass‘s site – he said “the worst would be over by 1 or 2 pm.” The NWS hasn’t updated its official forecast since 4 am. One more REALLY important reminder for everyone who took the bus in to work – Metro has said it will “severely curtail” its afternoon service – here’s an excerpt from the warning we linked to a couple times already:
In order to safely transport as many passengers as possible, King County Metro Transit will be focusing on core service on major routes for the afternoon commute and the rest of Thursday. Due to deteriorating travel conditions, Metro will cancel or severely reduce service on many of its bus routes this afternoon and evening. The developing plan is to provide bus service on cleared highways and arterial roads, and to major transit centers and park-and-ride lots. This transit plan will continue until weather and road conditions improve, which means almost all bus service will be significantly limited.
Check status here OR call 206-553-3000.
2:57 PM UPDATE: Just back from a neighborhood walk – and just in time; the snow has started up again. Luckie sent this view of SW Spokane near Madison Middle School:
Winter fun is great – but also keep this in mind – from a plea Mel just posted in comments:
I am one of those people that HAVE to be out today driving (I am a pet sitter and pets have to be taken care of while people are away) My complaint today is not with drivers (although there are some idiots out there “sightseeing” today). My complaint is with walkers and people playing around on foot – including kids with sleds. You need to stay out of the way of cars and not cross intersections against the lights thinking there is no or slow traffic. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times this morning people are just walking every which way on the roads and streets, oblivious to auto traffic and/or assuming that we can stop if you jot out onto the road. What makes you think that I can stop even at 1-2 miles an hour if you are out in the middle of the road??
Cars still have the right of way on the roads and especially with green lights at intersections. Please folks – use some common sense and stay away from the actual roads and intersections today when you are out on foot. And don’t assume that even the most careful driver can stop – all it takes is one spot of ice.
Thanks – from someone with a must do job today
Earlier, we mentioned Cami‘s sighting of a block party at 56th/Lander, inland Alki neighborhood – here’s a photo:
She also sent this video of a “kite snowboarder”:
3:20 PM UPDATE: From Amanda at Andover and Avalon (map):
Commute update from SDOT:
As snow continues to fall in Seattle, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) continues to aggressively plow, de-ice and sand city arterial streets. Commuters planning homeward trips may want to leave early to avoid looming lower temperatures that will create icy conditions. Drivers will find the best roadway conditions on major arterial streets. The department continues to advise that all motorists use caution and not drive if it can be avoided.
SDOT crews are plowing, deicing and sanding primary and secondary arterial streets throughout the city, and are also working on streets in downtown Seattle and near hospitals. Currently there are 21 trucks clearing city streets, with two plows/sanders dedicated solely to the West Seattle Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Crews are working on 12-hour shifts and will continue working through the night.
On a more holidayish note, Julie R just e-mailed (no pic, darn): “We live on 14th and Myrtle and walked up to the 7-Eleven. When we came out, we found Santa! I guess it is true that he can get around in any kind of weather!” (Perhaps the Santa we recently saw outside JoJo’s Espresso, kitty-corner across from the 7-11? – Update, Julie resent a photo, and indeed, here he is:)
At Westwood Village, according to a comment just posted by Melissa, many stores are planning to close early (around 4 pm) if they haven’t closed already. On northward to Duwamish Head, Susan‘s photo looks downright Arctic:
3:42 PM UPDATE: Two pix from our recent walk – first, looking north on California from Thistle; both of those streets have been plowed in this area:
From nearby SW Southern, looking toward the Sound, you can see the snowy treetops of Lincoln Park:
The National Weather Service has just posted its afternoon “forecast discussion” and is starting to fret more about the weekend. Meantime, just got word from The Bohemian that they too are planning to close at 4 pm, and have canceled tonight’s live music. And if you missed it in the morning update – residential trash service for today is postponed until at least tomorrow, and Friday pickup is postponed till Saturday. If you have Thursday pickup and they don’t get to you by end of day tomorrow, bring it in till next Thursday and set out a double amount then. Here’s the full city news release.
4:06 PM UPDATE: We’re watching the commute routes via tv, radio, Web, scanner, and of course WSB’er reports. Things look OK on the cameras that are on the WSB Traffic page (refresh for the newest image, if you leave it open a while). No particular problems on the main routes so far. We’ll intersperse with yet more neighborhood snow reports; RealLowVibe has a nice Alki gallery you can check out on Flickr. Also, for tomorrow, we have word that Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area is good for sledding – WSB’er “westseattledood” provided an eyewitness report and also this photo of her with Levi the Labradoodle, who she says had a great time too:
4:15 PM UPDATE: Chris sends word of a list of canceled buses. Chris says the West Seattle buses on the cancellation list (which only includes numbers) are 22, 37, 51, 53, 55, 57, 118, 119, 560, and 125.
4:37 PM UPDATE: Seattle Public Schools CANCELED FOR FRIDAY. That according to district spokesperson Patti Spencer, who tells WSB it will appear soon on the district website, and the “School Messenger” automated phone calls will be made TONIGHT. Also just got word that High Point Community Center closed early, at 4 pm, but expects to be open regular hours tomorrow. Another road update – Kristina just sent word that Highland Park Way looks bad, some people are trying to brave it but she says “just don’t.” Photo from a short time ago, looking down toward Marginal:
4:57 PM UPDATE: While we continue tracking the commute, one of our most intrepid correspondents, Talani at Stor-More Self-Storage (WSB sponsor) on Yancy just east of Avalon, shares an observation via Facebook (where we’re WS Blog; “friend” us to see what people are sending): “”The funniest thing at Stor-More today is lots of neighbors came in just to get skis, snow shoes, snow shovels and sleds out of their storage units…a couple got more blankets…almost everyone who came hiked in…a few brave souls drove…you know there is a lot of snow when people want to ski to the grocery store…it’s like a European village…” Another school closure for TOMORROW just in — Highline Public Schools, like Seattle Public Schools, will be CLOSED tomorrow – so winter break has begun. Seattle Lutheran High School also will be closed Friday. (We’re listing all closures at the very top of this post – and will carry that over to the evening post, to be started around 6 pm.)
5:08 PM UPDATE: WSB Forums member Beachdrivegirl sends a photo of, what else, Beach Drive:
Speaking of the Forums, there is a thread that might interest you — “anybody need snow help?” Check it out here. And another school closure for TOMORROW – Holy Rosary.
5:44 PM UPDATE: Emily sends word that Alki Ave is icy near Sunfish (which is closed for the owners’ holiday vacation) and she doesn’t advise trying it if you don’t have to. Elsewhere on the West Seattle north-facing waterfront, Greg Whittaker from Alki Kayak Tours says they’re starting up the West Seattle Ski Shuttle tomorrow:
It’s an 11-person shuttle and they’re offering lower prices for the first weekend. More info at seattleskishuttle.com or by phone at 206-953-0237. They’ll be going to Crystal Mountain and to other areas as they open. And maybe you should squeeze some runs in now – as the National Weather Service has now issued an alert about that big storm expected Saturday into Sunday; thanks to Kat for forwarding this link. Last line:
REGARDLESS OF THE DETAILS… BE PREPARED FOR WINTER WEATHER AND SIGNIFICANT WEATHER-RELATED DISRUPTIONS THIS WEEKEND STARTING SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
Those “details” could include everything from more snow to wind to freezing rain.
6:10 PM UPDATE: West Seattle Montessori just joined the “closed tomorrow” list, which is also at the very top of this post, over the bridge cam image. And the “closed for the rest of tonight” list also now includes Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) in North Delridge, whose proprietor Jessie writes via Facebook:
“Skylark Café is closed due to impending ice, snowed-in employees, Delridge exit closures, etc. Hoping to reschedule the NYC major label band ElodieO for tomorrow at 8 pm. Thanks to everyone who has been calling, we are posting updates on our myspace page at myspace.com/skylarkcafe.”
6:31 PM UPDATE: Haven’t started evening snow post yet, putting up some non-snow news first. Also just learned that the guy who was going to run to all the libraries today decided not to include West Seattle after all (via his tracking on Twitter). Meantime, scanner is now crackling with the phrase “sheet of ice” every five seconds or so.
6:42 PM UPDATE: Hope Lutheran School in West Seattle and Holy Family School in White Center are closed Friday too.
8:29 PM NOTE: Finally started an “evening updates” post. Click here to join us there!
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