WEST SEATTLE SNOW: Monday night updates, including Tuesday plans

7:37 PM: Trouble on the streets everywhere – a utility pole across California in The Junction (photo from Jacob):

Buses stuck on Avalon (photo from Gwen):

Almost 1,000 customers without power in southeast West Seattle:

Several more inches of snow has made this a messy night. (For us, too – apologies for the technical trouble that kept us from updating here for a few hours.) Here’s our newest link list:

SCHOOL CLOSURES FOR TUESDAY: List here
NEWEST ALERTS AND FORECAST: National Weather Service updates here
SDOT WINTER-RESPONSE MAP: See where SDOT has treated/plowed
TRAFFIC CAMS PAGE: Our compilation of local cameras
SDOT CITYWIDE CAMS ETC. PAGE: Year-round “travelers” map with cams/alerts
METRO SERVICE: Emergency Snow Network at least through Tuesday – here are the West/South Seattle specifics.
WEST SEATTLE WATER TAXI: Here’s the Tuesday plan
TRASH/RECYCLING: Awaiting Tuesday plans
TUESDAY BUSINESS (ETC.) CLOSURES/CHANGES: Building a list here

One big message tonight: STAY HOME. Besides the streets mentioned above, there are also trees on 35th, Jacobsen, and other streets.

8:10 PM: Buses on 35th south of Avalon, too – the photo above is from Jeff B, who also reports that the high bridge had “lots of snow.” …. Regan tweeted that tow trucks were making progress on the Avalon buses … Outage update: About half the nearly-a-thousand who lost power in the Highland Park area have it back, per City Light’s map. Citywide, more than 21,000 customers are without electricity.

8:28 PM: Sounds like just rain out there now (340′ elevation). The Winter Weather Advisory alert is in effect until 4 am. … Steve Ball sends this view, saying he had just finished clearing the walkway when the snow turned to rain:

We’re getting some non-school changes/closures for Tuesday and starting a new list of those – if you have anything to share, 206-293-6302, text or voice, is our hotline – thank you!

9:45 PM: Thanks to Michael KD for that video of SW Avalon Way getting cleared. Meantime, up here we just heard a ferocious road-scraping noise, and went out to see this:

What exactly do we call that? Guess we can consult this newly published SDOT post that explains snow-clearing and de-icing in insider-level detail.

10:45 PM: The trouble spots are being cleared bit by bit, and the meltoff continues. Hard to tell until early morning (we plan to restart by 5) what it’ll be like out there. “The lowlands could be done with the snow,” per the latest “forecast discussion.”

11:09 PM: Still ~500 out of power in Highland Park, and as noted in comments, there’s a small outage in Gatewood that’s not showing on the map.

11:17 AM: Dangling, arcing power line reported at 35th/Trenton.

35 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE SNOW: Monday night updates, including Tuesday plans"

  • Kristi February 11, 2019 (7:42 pm)

    Thank you for all you do for WS!! You are my go to resource for everything WS and have been so helpful with information during this crazy Snowpocalypse!

    • Bluhorizon February 13, 2019 (8:43 am)

       Mike Ball: What a beautiful photo. 

  • Jade February 11, 2019 (7:58 pm)

    All of Avalon is buses (7:30pm) at least 10 buses stuck! 

    • WSB February 11, 2019 (8:01 pm)

      Thanks,just adding that above. Anywhere with even a slight hill is a place to avoid!

  • Peter February 11, 2019 (8:21 pm)

    Please be aware route 21 is not running at all per Metro. They can’t get up the hill from Avalon. They’re being left where they get stuck there. Had a cold, wet walk home. 

  • Bradley February 11, 2019 (8:27 pm)

    I’m assuming there’s no garbage pickup tomorrow for those of us who are scheduled for 2/12/19 pickup? It’s too much of a slushy mess to drag the cans to the curb.

    • WSB February 11, 2019 (9:14 pm)

      Still waiting for SPU’s update but they had said Monday customers will be the priority whenever they resume, so even if they do pick up tomorrow, it wouldn’t be Tuesday customers (which includes us and we’re not taking ours down the stairs)…

  • David February 11, 2019 (8:31 pm)

    Just tried to drive three blocks around Alaska Juction… nearly impossible. Slushmeggedon is now upon us!

  • G McGee February 11, 2019 (8:35 pm)

    Two thoughts this Monday evening as the snow gives way to rain. Clear your drains. Local flooding is always an issue after a storm like this. Second, clear your roof if you have a flat roof. 12 inches of snow weighs a lot.  Now imagine how much it’s going to weigh after this rain tonight. That goes double for all of us with decks. Shovel it off before it collapses

  • KT February 11, 2019 (8:45 pm)

    Bus drama continues on California & Genessee near the downed utility pole.  A few 128s pulled over by the Post Office and letting out passengers. Saw one earlier then make a U-turn in the middle of the intersection and double back.Cheers again to our bus drivers! They are the best. Glad I don’t have to be out in this — driving or trudging through the slush.The number of cars out and about seems to have slowed, thankfully. Hope everyone gets home safe.

  • Vicki February 11, 2019 (8:52 pm)

    AA very large limb just fell from the monkey puzzle tree in front of my house and is now blocking sidewalk. Saw the power lines bounce but remarkably still have power. Any advice on who to call about removal? I’ve already left a message with the tree service that just pruned and limbed our the tree in October.

  • mnw February 11, 2019 (9:12 pm)

    I hope SPU will update the site soon. I need to know if I should put out my bins or not! 

  • Canton February 11, 2019 (9:32 pm)

    Thank you wsb, for all you do, definitely, a valuable local resource. Hope you get a break sometime soon.

  • Fussy February 11, 2019 (9:33 pm)

    My AA 10pm flight to Florida, canceled…wha wha whaaaa

    • F February 12, 2019 (6:22 am)

      Did they get you on another plane to FL? We are booked on the same flight later in the week.

      • Fussy February 13, 2019 (12:03 pm)

        Yes, leaving today and looking forward to warming up :) thanks for asking…have a wonderful trip!

  • DM February 11, 2019 (9:55 pm)

    Thank you West Seattle blog for being a communication hub during Snowzilla!  You’re always there for us. Thank you!  And a HUGE thank you to all the bus drivers who have had to deal with the snow conditions on the heals of dealing with the Viaduct closure.  I’m imagining that the personnel of the West Seattle blog and King County Metro must be exhausted…

  • Jim P. February 11, 2019 (10:14 pm)

    ST 560 is not running to Westwood this evening.  It is stopping at Burien transit Center per an email notice I got.Heaven help anyone at the airport expecting to get here that way.

  • Pdxmark February 11, 2019 (10:23 pm)

    Avalon Ave from earlier when it was closed and full of stuck busses 

  • Pdxmark February 11, 2019 (10:32 pm)

    With the snow melt comes the standing water.We are under a flood warning until tomorrow, lots of water in the snow and it has no where to go.  Tomorrow’s commute is going to be a mess!

    • WSB February 11, 2019 (10:44 pm)

      The flood warning’s not in our area, but not far. We have only a “winter weather advisory.” However, the vigorous flow in the downspout outside the nearest window sounds ALMOST flood level!

      • Pdxmark February 11, 2019 (10:51 pm)

        On the map it shows all of Seattle

        • WSB February 11, 2019 (10:59 pm)

          Here’s the best way to get absolutely accurate info from the NWS:

          -Go to the Seattle main page
          https://www.weather.gov/sew/

          -Use the box at upper left to search by zip code (for example, 98106)

          -It will bring up a custom page including a link to any alert(s) in effect in that specific area

          The flood warning, if you follow the link on the NWS Seattle page (lower right), doesn’t include our area. Confusingly written, though, and maybe they’ll fix that in the early morning update.

      • Pdxmark February 11, 2019 (10:57 pm)

        My bad, the KIRO 7 map does.not show West Seattle.. regardless like you said it will will be bad out here 

  • Gatewood Rez February 11, 2019 (10:38 pm)

    Several houses along 7300 block of Gatewood haven’t had power since about 5:30/6:00.  For whatever reason SCL map isn’t shower an outage and their automated outage system still doesn’t register it.  We’ve called SCL three times only to have them tell us we had not registered our house and neighborhood as losing power.  This is in addition to 911 dispatching SFD because there were live wires down.  

    • WSB February 11, 2019 (10:42 pm)

      Thanks for the update. Somebody texted about that and I checked the map but I also recall past outages in that area not “showing up” either. Hope you are on their radar now; I’ll note it above for the record, too – TR

      • Gatewood Rez February 11, 2019 (11:06 pm)

        Thanks TR!  You are right that this area has historically not registered with SCL; it’s very frustrating.

  • Gatewood squad February 11, 2019 (10:56 pm)

    Hopw everyone is safe! We live on Myrtle street. Just east of California street on the top of a big hill and dead end street. My family and a lot of the elderly neighbors have pretty much been stuck here but now my husband and I have a flight to catch at 8am On Wednesday morning.  Have people been making it to the airport? Any advice? 

    • Christine February 11, 2019 (11:45 pm)

      I went to the airport at 6:30 pm in a Lyft and got there fine.  My flight to Lauderdale got cancelled so i tried to hop flight to JFK but that would be flying into more snow. Got a ride home from SEA-TAC to WS at 10pm and it was slush and wet all the way. I’m gonna try for my actual flight tomorrow at 7:15 am. Hope it doesn’t get cancelled the Alaska customer service line was sooooo long. As of now I’ve been on hold for 40 minutes. Pack your patience and leave early. Good luck!!

    • Marshall February 12, 2019 (12:07 am)

      I took some relatives to the airport around 9:30 pm. Aside from deep slush on the side streets, my round-trip to the airport was uneventful. Their flight out left as scheduled.

  • Jim P. February 11, 2019 (11:53 pm)

    Got an update from Metro:  route 21 appears to be back in service as of around 11:30 PM Monday night.Good luck to anyone commuting tomorrow, I have rarely been so glad to be retired as this past week.

  • Highland Park neighbor February 12, 2019 (4:00 am)

    Our power just came back on YAY at 3:54 am – in Highland Park.  

    • WSB February 12, 2019 (6:04 am)

      Thsnks for the update!

  • redblack February 12, 2019 (5:51 am)

    that thing in the 9:45 update picture looks like a road grader, which is used to level gravel or asphalt in road-grading operations. never seen one used for plowing snow,, but it does have a big blade on the bottom…SPU says “one day delay” regarding monday trash pickup; not clear if that means the whole week is shifted one day again, or if they’re going to double up today. 

  • Kalo February 12, 2019 (8:18 am)

    Community Transit (serving Lynnwood, etc.) switched to double decker buses. Larger capacity, smaller footprint and, not as likely to get stuck in snowy conditions – like these silly Metro articulated buses!

Sorry, comment time is over.