(refresh/scroll down for the newest information; Monday school changes we have so far – Holy Rosary 10 am start, Holy Family 10 am, Our Lady of Guadalupe 10:30 am, Hope Lutheran 10:30 am, Seattle Lutheran 11 am, Shorewood Christian CLOSED)
(California/Thistle after dark tonight – look close to notice the glistening ice)
Our Sunday morning coverage is here; our Sunday afternoon coverage is here; now it’s time to start a new post for Sunday night – especially as we look ahead to tomorrow, and what conditions will be like as people look ahead to the workweek, and school (the last week before winter break, for most). Keep posting your reports, and sending photos to editor@westseattleblog.com – the information you provide is helping thousands of your West Seattle neighbors stay up to date with what’s happening, particularly important since most accounts suggest our area was hit harder than other parts of the city. Thanks again for your collaboration. First up, another update from the Goulds, reporting on multiple areas in south West Seattle:
Barton Street fairly good. Buses moving up the hill fine. Some folks are still a bit nervous going down, including the buses, so quite a bit of slow going down hill, at times. Did see a another sander and a de-icer truck going up.
It is our sense that the sand is in short supply and they are using it very judiously. It has been very hit and miss where we saw the sand. They may have also been trying to hit the worse spots as quick as they could, covering as much ground as possible, until they had time to do more thorough coverage.
Barton east of 35th – now much better, I followed the sander and de-icer to Target. 35th from Roxbury to Avalon is generally good. Some spots both lanes are not completely clear so folks are trying to avoid the icier lane. Most people do seem to be driving quite sensibily, but you can easily tell who the
folks are that are not having a fun time.Roxbury – east and down the Olsen Place hill and across the Cloverdale Bridge: Roxbury overall is in better shape than 35th. Olsen Place hill is fine – clear and no apparent problems.
Also for folks interested in Thistle, I saw the sander and de-icer coming east on Thistle, crossing 35th and continuing on. So my guess is, is that Thistle is also in pretty good shape now.
The newest forecast now says “quite cold through next weekend” and flatly declares “SNOW” for next Wednesday; see it here. Another road report now from Kevin in Arbor Heights: “100th west of 35th appears to be sanded but still very slick. I’m a couple of houses south on 42nd SW and our street is just solid ice as most likely the case with all the other side streets.” He says vehicles DO appear to be proceeding slowly and cautiously. However, Meg reports a nearby trouble spot:
There are three cars stranded at the curve on Marine View Dr SW, just south of 45th and Endolyne Joe’s. It’s very slippery on the curve headed South, and on the straight-away part of the hill where you come out of all the foliage. No sand or de-icer truck all day, which is typical, the hill is treacherous.
Updates as we get ’em (photos welcome too – anybody going to the Christmas Ship? – editor@westseattleblog.com) 6:05 PM: Folks are discussing power flickers in the comments – no power outages listed on the city site so far; here’s where they will be, if something big happens (hope not!). 7:39 PM UPDATE: As mentioned in the comments, some people in that area of Morgan Junction lost power entirely. That’s not listed on the city site; we’ll check by phone to see if there’s information on what’s going on. We’d heard from Vlad Oustimovitch, who lives in the area, that his wife Kathryn had called City Light to ask about the microoutages and was told about “20 blocks” were affected by the blickering and that crews were en route. However, now, in addition to the comment here, we also just received a note from someone whose friends near Thriftway are without power. 7:48 PM UPDATE: City Light says the outage is affecting 200 “customers” (which means homes/businesses) between SW Graham north, SW Webster south, 39th SW east, 47th SW west, and says crews are “currently patroling to find the cause of the outage.”
8:10 PM UPDATE: No outage updates yet. Meantime, we’re watching both the Seattle Public Schools site and SchoolReport.org for any school info for tomorrow morning that might affect folks in this area – as we mentioned earlier, though, the district often does not make the decision until early in the morning. It’s also a tough call when the weather conditions don’t affect the city (and therefore the district) uniformly – you may remember a time a few years back when the north end had snowy, icy conditions, while West Seattle was in relatively great shape, but schools were closed anyway because more routes were dangerous around the city than not. One other note – the WSB Forums have a few weather-related topics going, including “what’s better for your driveway/walkway: kitty litter or salt?” Join the conversation here. Good news for bus riders (and drivers who share the road with buses): King County promises buses will be chained tomorrow! (That same link contains other general commute-related info from the county, mostly re: unincorporated areas.)
8:23 PM UPDATE: Just a note while things are relatively quiet – besides watching schools and roads, we are also watching for other information relevant to tomorrow – government agency operation changes, major employers, what have you, so please share that kind of information too if you think it’s of value to more than a few people (comments and/or editor@westseattleblog.com). Besides keeping watch till late tonight, we will of course be updating for the morning commute too, monitoring various sources for West Seattle-specific/relevant road info. Both the city and the county promise to be on their game.
8:50 PM UPDATE: We have paged Seattle City Light media reps in hopes of getting an update on the Morgan/Gatewood outage. If we don’t get any new information soon, we’ll head down the hill (the area is a mile directly north of us) and look for crews. Meanwhile, a photo just in from David Hutchinson, one of many people who contributed great photos earlier today too:
David says, “Just got back from seeing the Christmas Ship near the Don Armeni boat ramp. A small group braved the cold temperatures and wind. The bonfire was appreciated.” Also: Michelle, in comments, reports one West Seattle school change has been announced: Start time for Holy Rosary is 10 am tomorrow. By the way, if you’re looking for the website or phone number for a West Seattle school, we have a fairly comprehensive list (probably missing a few preschools – those are hard to track) on the WSB Schools page.
COVERAGE CONTINUED THROUGH MIDNIGHT – TO SEE THE REST OF IT, CLICK AHEAD:
9:01 PM UPDATE: Katie says in comments that Holy Family in White Center will start at 10 am tomorrow. Also, Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s website says they’re starting at 10:30 am. We’ll put school closures/changes in a separate post shortly, so they are easily accessible as well as reporting them in this general coverage.
9:24 PM UPDATE: City Light’s on-call media person just called. The media team wasn’t paged about the outage because it “started as a cycle,” so that was someone’s “oversight,” and that’s why they weren’t already issuing information about it – although that doesn’t make any difference regarding the repairs; crews are out but she has no further information from the field regarding the cause or the time it’s likely to be restored, though she says that in general, outages that start as “cycles” SHOULD be relatively quickly fixable. Sorry that’s not much help.
9:51 PM UPDATE: Chris writes in comments: “I just saw a City Light worker trudging down SW Myrtle – on foot since the hill east of California is impassable to emergency vehicles due to ice – flashlight in hand and looking at power lines and transformers. He got back in his truck and moved south to Orchard.”
10:10 PM UPDATE: Ten minutes later, Chris reported power back at California/Myrtle. Hope that is true for everyone involved. City Light hadn’t updated its info as of our last check minutes ago. (Added) Two more reports of restored power are in. We will do our best to find out from City Light staffers tomorrow what the cause was. On another note, de-icer truck and plow just headed eastbound on Thistle from California. The city said all 18 of its crews will work all night.
10:23 PM UPDATE: Some West Seattleites send their kids via ferry to Vashon schools – so we’re noting that Vashon is reporting it’s starting 2 hours late tomorrow.
10:35 PM UPDATE: Just in from Lou Magor at Kenyon Hall:
Despite the chill in the weather, the Monday, December 15 Cambialaria Concert will go on as scheduled, at 7:30 in the evening. Reservations are not needed. There is no admission charge; tax-deductible donations will help the world’s poor. Come hear Scott Warrender’s elegant ensemble in a Christmas treat that’ll warm your heart. Complimentary refreshments will be served. Doors open at 7.
Since from what we’ve seen and heard, much of the rest of the city isn’t dealing with the kind of road woes we have over here, we doubt the weather will affect some big events of WS interest the next few nights, but will be checking anyway. For starters, tomorrow night is the Town Hall public forum on the proposed Alaskan Way Viaduct scenarios (5-7:30 pm); we plan to be there (archived Viaduct coverage here).
10:38 PM UPDATE: More school changes – Hope Lutheran will start at 10:30 am. Also, Seattle Lutheran High School will start at 11 am. Kennedy High School in Burien is starting at 10:30 am. Interesting video find via an odd link on our Twitter page – KING5 “raw video” interviewing bus drivers who got stuck in West Seattle today (near Westwood Village, looks like).
11:04 PM UPDATE: Just got a note from Seattle Public Schools – but NOT the decision about tomorrow (yet); instead, a media refresher on how they make their decision and how it is communicated. New “School Messenger” apparently will call families with automated messages, in addition to decision getting posted on SPS website, SchoolReport.org, etc.
11:31 PM UPDATE: We’ll keep watch here about another hour before a short overnight break, with morning-commute coverage starting around 5 am.
12:56 AM UPDATE: Another school note: Shorewood Christian School is closed, per recording on office phone. Still no Seattle Public Schools decision posted.
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