West Seattle Weather Watch: Almost-spring Sunday snow

(replaced original photo with video from Upper Fauntleroy at 8:35 am)
Nothing should surprise us, given what’s happened so far this winter, but waking up to Winter Wonderland, Yet Again, is still a bit of a shock. Someone mentioned “snow?” on Twitter last night; we went to the forecast to look and all we saw was the chance of some gusty winds later today. But at least where we are – it’s blanketed, already. And you?

8:02 AM: The current forecast insists this will change to rain later – and then give way to a wind advisory, noon-11 pm. Send a photo if you have one! editor@westseattleblog.com

8:17 AM: Here come the photos – thanks! First, from Tony in High Point:

From Scott C near Myrtle Reservoir:

From King County on Twitter a moment ago:

Snow is spreading across King County, but Metro buses are still moving with little disruption. Will keep you posted if that changes

From Cathy Woo on Alki – snowing down at the lower levels too:

Reminder that if you need to drive somewhere, our Traffic page has a variety of camera views in West Seattle and on the routes leading onto/off the peninsula.

8:36 AM: Just added video to the top of this report, a shaky pan from the arterial intersection nearest WSB HQ (California/Thistle; map) for posterity’s sake and anyone who’s out of town … Remember that it did snow in LATE March last year. Now, more photos – this one from Todd in Admiral:

From Jodi in the 4000 block of Fauntleroy Way alongside the approach to The Bridge (and she reports traffic’s getting by just fine):

Via Facebook (where you can “friend” us as WS Blog), Talani reports it’s more like rain on Alki right now. Still snow here but smaller flakes, and there IS some on the road, so drive carefully if you have to go somewhere. Meantime, famous forecaster Cliff Mass explains the super-size flakes seen earlier:

The snow is full of large aggregates (many crystals stuck together)…that is why they are so large (the surfaces of the snowflakes are melitng and wet…and this acts as a sort of glue to allow them to stick to each other). This happens in marginal temp situations, like we have now.

Update on who DID forecast this: On FB, we have one report that Channel 5 did hint at this, and another that Cliff M mentioned the possibility in his Friday KUOW appearance.

9:04 AM: From Diana in North Admiral:

And on the flip side, Talani’s photo of Alki Ave out the window of the beachside Starbucks:

From JH near Schmitz Park:

Pretty sure that’s now the sound of some snowmelt in the downspout outside the nearest window … And yes, the street’s now wet with a little slush, and it’s more rain than snow. So at least your photos will be indisputable proof for anyone who’s sleeping late and might end up missing the whole thing!

9:22 AM: Via Twitter, Bridgette in the Avalon/Luna Park area reports a Comcast cable-TV outage. Anyone else? Meantime, the big flakes are back. Guess this will be off-on for a while.

9:31 AM: Kathleen just e-mailed from Highland Park and says that near Riverview Playfield, “no sign of rain” – still “tons of snow coming down.” (minutes later in Upper Fauntleroy, it’s 95% rain)

9:55 AM: Unless you’re in a micro-microclimate pocket and seeing otherwise, looks like the snow event is mostly over. But remember that there’s another round of wild weather predicted for later today – a wind advisory around the metro area, noon-11 pm – forecast excerpt:

SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH BECOMING SOUTHWEST 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 40 MPH THIS AFTERNOON.

But in the meantime, the more-typical weather has arrived just in time for the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (now till 2 pm in The Junction). And the first government news release has arrived too – King County’s overview.

32 Replies to "West Seattle Weather Watch: Almost-spring Sunday snow"

  • JunctionMonkey March 15, 2009 (7:55 am)

    Big puffy flakes here in the Junction….oh yeah, and it’s also snowing. My deck has a thin covering on it.

  • Tony March 15, 2009 (7:55 am)

    Coming down hard in High Point. Big flakes. Seems to be sticking as well.

  • b'smomma March 15, 2009 (7:56 am)

    Well Surprise to me! I had NO idea it was suposed to snow?! But it is in the Admiral District. I’d say over an inch on everything but the cement.

  • beatrice March 15, 2009 (7:58 am)

    Highland Park is covered! And still coming down – sticking and big big big flakes! How long? I gotta go to work!

  • Lo March 15, 2009 (7:59 am)

    A pretty, feathery snow, but would rather trade it for some sun instead.

  • Valerie March 15, 2009 (8:00 am)

    Gatewood here. It began about an hour ago and is now sticking to the street. Looks like shaving cream. Does someone know how it can snow and stick when it is at least 5 degrees above freezing? That always mystifies me.

  • Jen March 15, 2009 (8:00 am)

    These have got to be the biggest flakes I’ve ever seen. Near Riverview playfield, everything’s blanketed and it’s sticking on the roads.

  • Lou March 15, 2009 (8:02 am)

    same story in upper gatewood…big flakes, half inch on the ground…pavement is covered – be careful driving – wet snow gets slick under the tires.

  • vjl March 15, 2009 (8:02 am)

    Big ol’ flakes in Delridge (next to the Home Depot). It’s sticking to plants etc; looks like there’s slush on the pavement.

  • LAP March 15, 2009 (8:03 am)

    Ground, cars and roofs covered in the Westwood Village area – and it is starting to stick to sidewalks and the street. Huge flakes!

  • Andrew March 15, 2009 (8:03 am)

    Some of these flakes are 2 inches in diameter! Definitely sticking a lot here at Alaska junction. I looked out the window at 7am, it was just foggy, no snow on the ground. Now we have at least 1/2 – 3/4 inch!

    Snow on Sunday morning is okay by me :)

  • matthew darling March 15, 2009 (8:04 am)

    it is beautiful, but when you have to schlep out for work early on a sunday morning…reliant on the bus mind you…it puts one in a certain mood.

  • Dreamland March 15, 2009 (8:05 am)

    Fantastic, large groups of flakes, almost the size of dollar bills floating down, over here in Fairmount Springs. (Too bad they aren’t dollar bills!) I like this kind of snow, great to look at, and not a huge threat for drivers hopefully.

  • iggy March 15, 2009 (8:06 am)

    Up here on Gatewood the flakes are so big they look like flat snowballs. Starting to stick on California, although it’s so slushy it could be seen as thick rain!! Meanwhile, I’m heating up the house and cooking food just in case the wind event later today results in power outages.

  • JH March 15, 2009 (8:16 am)

    Huge flakes near Schmitz Park and now sticking everywhere! (the pavement was the exception until recently). I have no clue how I missed this forecast!!!

  • d March 15, 2009 (8:19 am)

    Could not really call these snow “flakes” in Highland Park – more like snow “puffs”. The cat is crazed at the window trying to get at ’em.

  • JayDee March 15, 2009 (8:22 am)

    Well, if it makes y’all feel better, the NWS missed it too. Ought to be an interesting day, snow followed by 45 mph winds.

  • WSB March 15, 2009 (8:27 am)

    Seriously, as I wrote above, I saw ONE person on Twitter last night (and we monitor almost 600 various news and personal feeds there) mention “Snow?” So I ran to the National Weather Service forecast site – and not a word. Not even in the “forecast discussion” we quote all the time. I got briefly worried about a mention of high wind, but that wasn’t even an advisory for our area at the time. Our weather really can turn on a dime … just so happens that MUCH more often than note, snow hysteria is followed by no snow, as opposed to the other way around – TR

  • Admiral Janeway March 15, 2009 (8:33 am)

    Big flakes and sticking on the road. I entered today’s St. Patrick’s Day Dash, but I’ve decided to skip running this morning.

  • vjl March 15, 2009 (8:34 am)

    Cliff Mass mentioned the possibility of snow as an “oh, by the way” in his post late last evening (about 9:15) – which of course I didn’t see until this morning!

  • wsmom March 15, 2009 (8:36 am)

    Flakes are smaller now but still coming down near the junction.

  • Little brown dog March 15, 2009 (9:16 am)

    It has switched to rain now at 49th and Dawson.

  • Steph March 15, 2009 (9:28 am)

    What a fun surprise. Got out with my boys this morning and built a snowman and threw snowballs at each other. Hope that the wind prediction is as wrong as the lack of snow prediction.

  • Little brown dog March 15, 2009 (9:29 am)

    Whoops, spoke too quickly. It has transitioned back to a rain/snow mix. Snow, add in this afternoon’s wind forecast, and we have become North Dakota. My daffodils are stunted and not yet blooming, about 3 weeks behind schedule.

  • Mags March 15, 2009 (9:30 am)

    I’m just glad that it’s not Monday. I bet Metro does better when they don’t plan for it. I got up about 6:30ish and thought it was foggy, let the cat in and thought must be a wet fog, hence wet cat..then I actually saw white on one of my bushes and proceeded to use a host of profanities. I’m glad to hear it is changing to rain.

  • JH March 15, 2009 (9:30 am)

    Back to huge flakes again near Schmitz Park! I haven’t seen any rain yet…

  • JH March 15, 2009 (9:34 am)

    ow, I wrote too soon. In a minute it changed to a mix!

  • JH March 15, 2009 (9:40 am)

    And I didn’t mean to write “ow!”

  • Mags March 15, 2009 (9:47 am)

    It’s mixed with mostly rain in Belvedere.

  • Kerry March 15, 2009 (9:53 am)

    Anyone else having Directv outages?

  • Little brown dog March 15, 2009 (9:57 am)

    All rain again, snow dissolving nicely. Time to fill up a thermos or two of coffee in anticipation of power loss (heaven forbid) with wind gusts up to 50 mph. Sigh.

  • Kevin March 15, 2009 (12:56 pm)

    Wow, that was fast! I got up early AM and looked at the snow, went back to bed, got up around noon to bright sunshine, no snow, and wind. Hmm… must have been a dream or something? :)

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