West Seattle weather 2031 results

Truly hot coffee

December 10, 2006 12:26 pm
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 |   West Seattle weather

We’ve heard Starbucks checks the temperature of its drinks, but how about the temperature of its signs? (Taken half an hour ago at the ex-Rainier Roaster.)

hotcffee.jpg

Super-size snow

So pretty. Big flakes that look like confetti, or even in some cases falling leaves.

A watched storm never boils

But this one finally hit the second we decided we would take advantage of the “delay” and go out for a little drive. Headed down Cali Ave … and right as we reached Admiral, freezing rain started pelting the car. Had to turn around and head right back home in hopes the hill wouldn’t be too badly frosted by the time we started back up. If you see this somewhere around the time we’re posting it, go open your door or window and listen … freezing rain is a very interesting sound. Uh oh … now it looks more like snow …

The waiting is the hardest part

Tonight’s weather radar pictures show a Big Blob of stormy something coming this way. But its true nature may not be revealed till after you tuck yourself beneath three layers of comforters (down from four last night, when Seattle set a for-this-date record low of 18 degrees). One thing seems to be for sure … by this time tomorrow night, we should be able to stop worrying about the weather for a while. Good thing, too, since three interesting events are happening in West Seattle tomorrow (Thursday) night — we’ll post about them first thing in the morning.

Festival of the flakes

November 29, 2006 3:32 pm
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 |   Holidays | West Seattle weather

Even as another snowburst headed our way, intrepid decorating crews toiled in the Junction, wrapping poles with white garlands leading up to illuminated … what else … snowflakes.

No school

November 28, 2006 10:01 pm
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 |   West Seattle schools | West Seattle weather

Seattle Public Schools’ home page says things are still so icy on the north side, the entire district will stay shut down again for a second day.

Chilling chronicles

November 28, 2006 8:11 pm
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 |   West Seattle online | West Seattle weather

Poked around the tubes to see who else is talking about the Semi-Big Chill with a WS spin. The Lone Tomato saw our snow through the eyes of a former tropics-dweller. The Duke mentions crossing the bridge in the midst of the worst of it last night. The Weatherman put up a pic of the view from his walkway, quite the representative WS scene. Period of Useful Consciousness features video of a rare event: a dog deciding it’s too cold for a swim in the water off Alki. Demi has pics including both snow/ice and tonight’s spectacular sunset. Peter writes about leaving work in West Seattle last night to try to get home. Red Kev also had to negotiate the streets right about then. (We personally think the most dramatic and horrifying tales will occur when the utility bills hit the mail slot next month.)

The good news is …

… the really bad weather should be done by this weekend, so we can all enjoy the 2nd annual West Seattle Tree Lighting (this time it’s going to be at 42nd & Alaska, and county councilguy Dow C will be the MC) on Saturday. But in the meantime, we’ve got near-record cold in the works for tonight (here at WS Blog World HQ it’s a three-cat night … oh wait, we need another cat for that) and supposedly some more snow to smack us all tomorrow night into Thursday morning, with a chaser of rain, just like the big melt of ’96 (remember that one? that’s the worst memory we can muster, having not been here for Bridge Sinking ’90).

Road report

November 28, 2006 1:29 pm
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 |   Transportation | West Seattle weather

Scoped the roads while going home for lunch. The Bridge is in vastly better shape than it was this morning. You can hear the crunch and crackle of traction sand working its way into your tire treads, but that’s a much more pleasant sound than the screech of brakes, spinning of wheels, smashing into Jersey barriers and so on. Should be pretty decent for the evening drive home. The Admiral offramp still looked a little icy, though, so beware of that; the stretches of Fauntleroy and California that we traveled were relatively ice-free, but most side streets still look relatively ominous.

Brrrrr-idge

The approach to the high bridge has a lighted sign reading ICE ON BRIDGE … perhaps they should simply change it to STAY HOME OR ELSE.

Saw that one coming

November 27, 2006 10:46 pm
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 |   West Seattle schools | West Seattle weather

As of 10:45 pm, Seattle Public Schools have already decided tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a snow-closure day.

Half an hour and the street’s all white

Haven’t seen it snow this hard since the Post-Christmas Blast of ’96. P.S. In case you wondered, the city has a snow & ice FAQ. And there’s the handy-dandy list of streets most likely to be closed probably closed right this very second already.

It’s he-e-ere

November 27, 2006 6:05 pm
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 |   West Seattle weather

Six o’clock straight up and the latest wave of snow just hit our end of WS. Right after we drove through it on our way home from work … past Qwest Field, where as I write, Monday Night Football features the Seahawks hosting a team that’s more used to this kind of weather. This time, the snow seems to be more a matter of geography than altitude … a little while ago, the cars at Huling Brothers already had a decent coat of white, but by the time we passed Morgan Junction Thriftway, the ground was nearly bare … till now. Whoa, it appears to be snowing sideways at the moment. Be safe!

From wonderland to wind-erland

November 27, 2006 2:11 am
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 |   West Seattle weather

The snow’s stopped but now gusty wind has roared in. Looks like the experts think we’re done with the serious snow threat (till you get north of Seattle, anyway). Nice while it lasted (provided you didn’t have to drive last night). If you were wondering “how early did we see snow last year, anyway?” my memory didn’t help, either, but the archives of Metroblogging Seattle did.

Still snowing

November 26, 2006 7:19 pm
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 |   West Seattle weather

Just after 7 pm and here on the southern hills of West Seattle, it’s been snowing for a few hours, with flakes still falling and some slush on the street. Will this mean an extended Thanksgiving holiday for local schoolkids? No word yet. If it does, the info should show up here before dawn. Also remember that if you have to drive (hopefully not) we’ve got city traffic cameras, including the bridge, linked from our WS cams page.

Sad snowman

November 26, 2006 3:36 pm
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 |   West Seattle weather
sadsnowman
Discovered down & out along SW Myrtle Street near the reservoir (highest point in Seattle)

Got snow?

Woke up late and missed the actual snowfall up here on our hill, but there’s still a bit in the yard and on neighboring roofs. Not for long, though, since it’s raining and 37 degrees. We’re going out to see if anything’s photo-worthy; meantime, if you want to check out an actual Winter Wonderland, look at the live state cameras in Whatcom County.

Snow or no?

November 25, 2006 10:10 am
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 |   West Seattle weather

If you’ve checked the papers or watched tv, you may have heard the latest round of “it might snow” hysteria. Here’s the latest from the experts.

Set your cell-phone alarm tonight

November 12, 2006 7:10 pm
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 |   West Seattle weather

… just in case; our weather-geek pals tell us it could get windy enough overnight to take out the power. It appears the National Weather Service concurs. In case you want to write it down now, the City Light hotline for reporting outages is 206-684-3000; if you want to check first if someone’s already reported your outage, there’s supposed to be a recorded message along those lines at 206-684-7400.

Batten down the hatches

November 6, 2006 5:32 am
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 |   West Seattle weather

Hope you make it through the storm ok – heard some alarming forecasts out there such as “worst in years.” If something does go wrong in your neighborhood — the city’s got a lot of helpful information (including phone numbers) on this page.

Just how stormy is it?

If you really want to know and don’t have weather gadgets that can tell you … our favorite weather geek advises us there’s a close second. The National Weather Service posts “current observations” online from stations including Alki Point. Go to this page and look for K91S; I don’t even know what all the stats are, but the T column is temperature, the SP column is wind speed, the GS is wind gusts (when applicable). If you’re more inland, KBFI is Boeing Field, which is a little closer to much of West Seattle than the standard Sea-Tac stat cited in many spots for “official” city weather tracking. And if you want to go non-official, Weather Underground lists two people in WS with personal weather stations: one described as “North Admiral,” and “Weather at the Hoffmeisters’.”

Freakish fall

October 12, 2006 8:10 pm
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 |   West Seattle weather

Usually by this point in October, you can see what are literally the signs of fall: the “snow closure” road signs that city crews bring around and strategically tether to fixtures near steep spots — south end of Admiral, south end of Cali Ave, the nearly vertical drop on Charlestown, etc.

Instead of seeing these signs, we’re seeing record high temperatures and spectacular sunsets. So in case you’re missing typical fall weather, we found a reason to not miss it: the Columbus Day Windstorm, 44 years ago today.

Ice, ice, baby

When we moved into our house more than a few years ago, one of its selling points happened to be a relatively recent conversion to natural-gas heat. So much cheaper than oil or electric! … at the time.

Now, bills with LOTS of digits come sailing through the mail slot. And that’s just for the “average” winter temperatures we’ve had till now. Suddenly the big chill is upon us, the cars are frosted, my toes are frozen, and I can see far enough into the future to envision my first $200 heating bill spitting out of a PSE printer somewhere.