West Seattle, Washington
05 Tuesday
When you hear “last December’s storm,” you probably think wind (and powerlessness). But some think first of the fast, furious rainstorm that preceded the wind, created the Upper Fauntleroy sinkhole (bridged but still not filled), and swept floodwater through some WS homes. The homeowners with flood damage are still trying to get things set right; one homeowner has e-mailed us to say they’re organizing a West Seattle flood victims’ group, plus warning us all to watch for what is alleged to be the real culprit in the spot flooding — filters left in storm drains by contractors and construction crews. Regarding the damage already done, they’re thinking about suing, and inviting anybody and everybody who had flood trouble to e-mail them at floodvictims@comcast.net.
The city says the grass ballfields are open again. Guess our spectacular sunny morning did the trick.
The city parks department has just issued an alert — it’s closing all grass ballfields around the city because they’re just too soggy, with rain most of the weekend and more on the way. That includes Alki, Fairmount, High Point, part of Hiawatha, Highland Park, Roxhill, and West Seattle Stadium, among others.
Haven’t seen it this windy in a while. Weather Service says Alki Point has gusts up to 43 mph. How are things where you are?
Though the North End is still a mess, looks like WS made it thru the night snow-free. No school changes either, except for a few Head Start programs to the north.
At least at our house … though Everett, Snoqualmie Pass, and other areas are getting snow-blasted. Let us know if you see WS snow!
28 mph wind at Alki Point as of a few minutes ago. Could get a little worse tonight, says the forecast. Put that flashlight by the pillow.
West Seattle Blogger Spouse reports street sweepers working Cali Ave much of the day, apparently tackling the sand from Snowpocalypse ’07. Glad to hear it, having recently been caught in clouds of dust kicked up by hill-climbing buses traveling over the street-side sandpiles!
If you managed to escape the slick commute early this am, you’re lucky — some of the streets on our end of WS looked almost as iced-over as during the height of the winterfest we “enjoyed” earlier this month. We mention this as an excuse to look ahead; the weather experts say tomorrow could be a rerun. (We need a better ice scraper.)
A friend of ours who grew up in a mountain state told us that you know you’ve REALLY gotten some snow when, days or weeks after it melts, dirty slushy piles of it are still lingering in parking lots and similar places. So, we can now officially declare our Snow-n-Ice-mare ’07 a REAL event, upon discovery today of the official Dirty Slushy Leftover Pile near the southwest edge of Westwood Village:
Interesting tidbit in this city press release, regarding what happens to all the sand dropped on the bridges and arterials, after the snow and ice becomes only a memory.
Looks like Seattle Public Schools decided to open 2 hours late today. That may even have been overly cautious, since it hasn’t even dropped below freezing yet (we can hear the snow from the roof melting slowly through the rain-gutter drainpipe), but better safe than sorry. For next time (somehow you know there’ll be one), a city source tells us that whenever Seattle Public Schools has a weather closure, there are “snow camps” for child care at Hiawatha and Southwest Community Centers. We can’t find details online but you can check with the centers: here’s contact info for Hiawatha and Southwest.
While Lady Liberty’s away, the snowpeople will play! (another Alki pic from Bob Bollen)
The crowd at Thriftway is positively giddy about the afternoon melt-off giving them the chance to flee their snowbound domiciles … one lady in the meat section nearly mowed us down with enthusiasm, declaring without provocation, “This is the FIRST time I’ve been out in A WEEK! My freezer’s almost EMPTY! Seeing all this is like a CANDY STORE!” Oh by the way, at least as of 4 pm-ish, despite this morning’s snow, the arterials are in better shape than ever; the bridge doesn’t even have as much ice/slush on the inside shoulder as yesterday; but the side streets’ condition depends on what shape they were in before this morning. The iciest ones stayed that way; the ones where bare spots had started to bloom still show blacktop. Here’s hoping tonight doesn’t REALLY get all that cold …
Even the beach got a blast of snow, and that made for some unusual sights, such as this one sent to us by Cami from AlkiNews.com:
We haven’t been out driving but wanted to remind you that our West Seattle cams page has the city cameras for the bridge and for Fauntleroy/Alaska and Fauntleroy/35th. As for buses, we’re not seeing specific alerts but there’s a lot of great info on the Metro page including where the buses are and when. If you’ve got road info, feel free to post it in the comments here.
Can’t resist sharing another beautiful photo, taken from Alki, sent to us by Bob Bollen. The Olympics’ most distinctive peaks, The Brothers, completely white … would rather see the rest of the season’s snow there than down here!
If you have Monday trash pickup, watch out for collection trucks, which are still trying to make their way around here on the south end of WS as of right now … The side streets on the higher hilltops are still very icy, but after a sunny slightly-above-freezing day, spots of blacktop have started to appear — ah, such a welcome sight, like the green tips of crocus leaves poking up in spring. But we digress. The arterials are just lovely, though the left edge of the westbound WS Bridge remains iced over, and the ramp to it from 99 has lingering slick spots. Enjoy it while you can, since the forecast for tomorrow hasn’t mellowed out yet (we’ve now got a “snow advisory” for 4 am-10 am, go to work late if possible) …
Has to be so. My gosh, there’s a tv news truck parked at the top of Cali Ave hill (near Ida), with its phone-pole-height antenna up in the air. The snowbound citizens of south West Seattle must be about to star on the 5 o’clock news.
Snow is still in tonight’s forecast. Didn’t know chains (if any are left for sale) cost as little as $35. Never HAD to know!
Figured a list like this had to be out there on the city website somewhere — and it is: The 2006-2007 Snow and Ice Routes. Zoom in and take a close look at the WS streets — it reveals, for example, that here on our end of WS, Cali is only considered a “primary” route as far south as Holden; that leaves a half-mile stretch at the highest elevations identified as “secondary.” Elsewhere, heaven forbid we ever get major snow down to the water — no part of Alki Ave or Beach Drive or even Harbor is considered primary OR secondary. Part of the info on this page explains how the routes are prioritized.
Snow is back in the forecast, this time for Monday night/Tuesday morning. At least those of us with Monday trash/recycling pickup will stay on schedule; for those who asked, here’s the latest for people who got skipped the last few days of last week.
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