West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Keep the flashlight at bedside, just in case – this is the wind advisory renewed by the National Weather Service a little more than an hour ago:
…WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST WEDNESDAY…
A STRONG STORM WHICH IS BRINGING HEAVY RAIN TO THE MOUNTAINS IS ALSO CAUSING STRONG WINDS ACROSS THE URBAN CORRIDOR FROM TACOMA NORTHWARD TO EVERETT INCLUDING THE SEATTLE AREA. EXPECT SUSTAINED SOUTH WINDS OF 20 TO 30 WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH. THESE WINDS WILL CONTINUE OFF AND ON THROUGH THE NIGHT AND DIMINISH WEDNESDAY MORNING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WIND ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 TO 39 MPH OR GUSTS OF 45 TO 57 MPH ARE LIKELY. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN SNAP SMALL TREE BRANCHES…TOPPLE SMALL OR SHALLOW-ROOTED TREES…AND CAUSE LOCAL POWER OUTAGES.
A flood warning also is in effect through Thursday morning for possible “small stream” and urban flooding. We’ve just been out for a drive around some of the usual areas where this hits first – no trouble yet but if heavy rainfall continues as expected for hours to come, could be a different situation by morning.
12:28 AM UPDATE: We’re working on some other stories so we’re keeping watch on weather too; midnight readings from the NWS included 30 mph sustained/40 mph gusts at Alki Point (K91S on our favorite hourly list). Nothing on the City Light online list of outages.
1:14 AM NOTE: 34 mph speed, 44 mph gusts at Alki Point at 1 am.
(12/29 WSB photo)
Seattle Public Utilities is the focus of our third report (first one: snow-clearing; second one: Metro) on today’s three-hour Seattle City Council briefing regarding Snowstorm ’08 and how public services were delivered while the city was snowbound. SPU reps actually talked with council members about gearing up for possible pipe trouble during the pre-snow deep freeze, and gearing up for possible urban flooding when the snowmelt began, but since neither of those happened – and trash troubles DID – that’s the part of the discussion we’re writing about – read on for details:Read More
PICKUP CATCHUP, THE LATEST: Seattle Public Utilities finally officially confirmed that yes, they’ve been catching up today on some yard waste that wasn’t picked up yesterday — for those who would have had yard-waste pickup yesterday on the NORMAL schedule (check your “normal scheduled” online here) – and if yours still hasn’t been taken away, do call to report it (684-3000). Meantime, we’re working on the SPU angle from the city briefing earlier today, so that’ll be posted as soon as it’s done.
POWER-OUTAGE ALERT: Just in case the wind and rain intensify (video clip shot within the past hour – showing how fast the low clouds were moving in the wind) and lead to outages, Seattle City Light has issued a news release with reminders about what to do, what not to do, and who to call – click ahead to read it:Read More
(photo added 3:12 pm)
ORIGINAL 2:04 PM POST: Just a small note – we’re off to Seattle Public Schools HQ, where the “final recommendations” in the latest school-closure process are to be released within the hour. You’ll see them here as soon as we have them.
2:52 PM UPDATE: Just handed out. Cooper is still recommended for discontinuance. Genesee Hill building still recommended for closure, with Pathfinder K-8 moving to the Cooper building on Pigeon Point.
2:56 PM UPDATE: Full list: Building closures, Genesee Hill, Mann, TT Minor, Van Asselt, Old Hay (with subtext “may be temporary depending on enrollment.” Relocated programs: Half of Lowell APP to Thurgood Marshall. Half of Washington APP to Hamilton. NOVA to Meany. Pathfinder K-8 to Cooper (as mentioned). SBOC to Meany. TT Minor Montessori to Leschi. Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Dunlap and Hawthorne. Van Asselt to AAA. Also: New programs, New K-8 at Jane Addams. Discontinued programs: African American Academy, Cooper, Meany, TT Minor, Summit K-12. Again, the Cooper program closure/Genesee Hill building closure/Pathfinder move is the only West Seattle component of the list. This will now be introduced at the School Board meeting tomorrow night; final vote scheduled for January 29, and certainly the plan could change before then.
3:03 PM NOTE: Just FYI, we are in the board room at district HQ, where Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, Chief Academic Officer Carla Santorno, and other district officials will brief the media shortly and answer questions. We will add anything West Seattle-specific, and a full report later. A few more details about Cooper programs: The two autism self-contained and one inclusion program, as the district describes them, would “REMAIN at Cooper to become part of Pathfinder K-8,” according to the documents we’ve been given. The plan for other Cooper students is described in the summary as “reassign … to other schools in West Seattle.” District PR says this will be on the district’s website shortly – we’ll add the link when we see it.
3:13 PM UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter who found the link first: Here it is. One detail we omitted: West Seattle APP elementary students would go to the Thurgood Marshall half of the split program.
3:19 PM UPDATE: In case this part is not on the website yet, we are reading the detailed briefing book about the final recommendations. Here’s what it says about Cooper students:
Students who attend Cooper Elementary and live in the Cooper reference area are assigned to Pathfinder, Gatewood, Sanislo, or West Seattle Elementary depending on where in the reference area they live. Students who live within the walk zone for Cooper as well as some additional students who live near the Cooper building would be reassigned to Pathfinder where they could continue in the same building and become part of Pathfinder. The other reassignments (listed in the book) contemplate that the Cooper reference area would be merged with the Sanislo reference area, putting it in the West Seattle South Cluster.. Transportation would therefore be provided to students in the Cooper reference area who attend a school in the WS South Cluster. Transportation is also provided to WS Eleentary from both the West Seattle North and West Seattle South Clusters. Cooper studnets whose reference area is in the West Seattle North Cluster and who live close enough to walk would be reassigned to their reference area school. If not, they would be reassigned to West Seattle Elementary.
3:31 PM UPDATE: We just asked the superintendent about the fact that this would mean two buildings closed in the past few years in the West Seattle North cluster, which has had far less excess capacity than the south. She says a process is under development that will keep the district from getting to this kind of capacity imbalance in the future – no specifics yet, but it’s in the works.
3:38 PM UPDATE: The superintendent says there WILL be a “design team” process for Cooper if the final recommendation for program closure does get final approval – in which a group will be assembled to work through the transition of its students to other schools. As for what happens to its teachers – she says “the teachers go with the students” in general since enrollment isn’t declining, students are just moving; as for how it will be determined where teachers, like those at Cooper, go, she says that will be determined “by existing labor contract” terms.
3:44 PM UPDATE: The briefing has just ended. More links with long and short versions of the recommendations, as well as an updated FAQ and the official news release, are all now linked to the “Capacity Management” page that the district has used as a central repository for information on the ongoing process. Here’s that link. We’ll be writing a more detailed update a bit later; the superintendent had some comments about why the final list, citywide, was so dramatically different from the original “preliminary recommendations,” and also the role advocacy played or did not play in the final determination of what’s on this list.
5:16 PM NOTE: Before we get to that update – leafing through the full report, we see the “why the preliminary recommendation changed from Arbor Heights to Cooper” explanation is in it – if you want to read that, follow this link and click ahead to page 20. In part, it says:
In general, the Cooper building is a more logical choice for the relocation of the Pathfinder program. The building is nearly 30,000 square feet larger than Arbor Heights, and the building layout is more suitable for a K-8. Typically, K-8 programs prefer to physically separate the elementary and middle school students and the Cooper building allows for this. Cooper also has a full size field suitable for middle school PE. Cooper is also located on a large site that has a natural area that can be used by the Pathfinder program in support of their environmental education focus.
6:43 PM NOTE: One more link’s been added to the SPS website – the final report with appendices added – click ahead to page G-9, which is actually about 50 pages in, in order to get the specifics on where current Cooper students would be reassigned, depending on what “reference area” they’re in now.
Now, our second report (more to come) on the Seattle City Council‘s second day of briefings on December snowstorm response: This time, we focus on what the council heard from, and asked, Metro director Kevin Desmond. Biggest revelation – It’s clear now where the bus system’s customer-communication system broke down – there’s a major bottleneck. More about that in a moment. First, Desmond opened by stating the obvious: “This was the most severe weather, snow emergency in Metro’s history … We appreciate our customers’ patience and understand their frustration. Nobody likes to wait by the curb for a long time, for a bus that may or may not show up or may pass by because it’s crowded.” His bottom line: Metro has a snow plan, but it had to go out the window because it was written for a less-severe, shorter-duration situation. It’s an “80 percent” (service) plan, but he says Metro needs a “50 percent” plan, one that can be pro-actively put into effect with enough time to warn customers. That observation was just the beginning – read on: Read More
(December 23 WSB photo)
The City Council‘s second briefing on the December snowstorm response wrapped up a short time ago – after more than three hours. So much was said, we will publish several separate reports, each focused on a particular area, rather than one mega-report. First: An encore appearance by SDOT director Grace Crunican, toward the hearing’s end (following her stint on the hot seat yesterday), to talk more about the problems of getting, and keeping, the roads cleared. One key point was the issue of whether more help could have been called in. For example – the road grader you see above was one of several pieces of equipment borrowed from other city departments. SDOT also procured a small amount of private contractor help. Crunican revealed those details today: Two contractors were called in, one for three days, one for one day. She said they were called in at the peak of the problems, and discontinued because they felt they had a handle on the situation. In hindsight, she says, she realizes that wasn’t the case. Councilmember Nick Licata said at that point, “It’s clear that information was being exchanged between (city) departments, but was it being COORDINATED? We’ve talked a lot about departments communicating to the public, but what about the information from the public, to the departments? If SDOT thought it had a handle on the situation, that’s not what people were telling us.” West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen also reopened the issue of who decides which routes get plowed first — Crunican said the official, publicly distributed SDOT plan (see it here) is evaluated annually — and voiced a concern that in WS, nothing west of California SW is on the map (see it here). Crunican (also a West Seattleite) mentioned that at one point, Admiral Way was plowed to 63rd, after the primary routes were cleared. Rasmussen suggested that Alki SW and Beach Drive should be on the plow routes and quipped that people who live uphill from there could “slide downhill on garbage bags” if they had to, to at least be able to catch buses along those routes. And back on the topic of bringing in private contractors, Councilmember Jan Drago said, “I’m the only councilmember who was also here in ’96 (the last major “snow event”) and this whole issue is ‘deja vu all over again’ … There was a huge public outcry to buy more snowplows. I want to know if the decisions that were made then are still in place. What we decided then was that storms were so infrequent, we weren’t going to invest in a big fleet of snowplows, but we did agree to retrofit a number of our own vehicles.” Crunican noted that the city had fewer than a dozen plows then and has 27 now, so, she said, “The question is, do you want to staff up for more, do we want to go the contracting route, or do we want to look at (retrofitting) other city vehicles?” She also said: “I’m not immune to the fact we didn’t get the job done for the public.” More recaps to come – next, we’ll write about how Metro director Kevin Desmond explained what went wrong with his system and how its status was, and wasn’t, communicated to riders.
As has been observed in the trash-talk thread, it’s getting windier out there. The morning forecast suggests it will be windier tonight than today.
We first told you December 27th about Zack the cat — found by Jane, who has adopted him after being unable to find his original owner, and then discovered he had an injury that required costly surgery she couldn’t afford. WSBers answered her request for help, in a variety of ways, and Jane finally is able to provide an update:
I wanted to thank you all for your loving concern for Zack and for your donation. I was unable to raise enough money for Zack’s surgery at West Seattle Animal (Hospital) and they had to return those donations. I did make arrangements at Lien Animal Clinic at a lower cost for the surgery and if you would like to forward your donations on Zack’s behalf to Lien Animal Clinic, 3710 Alaska Street, Seattle, WA. 98126, it would be much appreciated.
Sincerely, Jane
After receiving that : The surgery has been done, but the bill hasn’t yet been paid. Zack’s leg was removed, and he was neutered. The donations that had been made through the previous clinic totaled about half the $1500-plus cost; those checks are being returned and Jane is asking the donors to please rewrite the checks to Lien (here’s its website) – and she is hopeful that more donations will be made to help cover the full cost. As we did following the first report, we would be happy to forward any e-mail to her if you want to correspond with her directly: editor@westseattleblog.com
This morning, we’re welcoming new WSB sponsors offering you a chance to start 2009 with a unique way to keep your New Year’s resolutions for fitness and fun: West Seattle’s own NiaDivas. 
Jill Pagano (left) and Lesley Tinker (right) invite you to start your new year by stepping into fitness the Nia way. The Nia Technique(R) is a low-impact, aerobic exercise of dance, martial arts, and healing arts such as yoga. Done barefoot to music, semi-choreographed, Nia delivers a whole-body workout. More than a physical workout, Nia also strengthens mental awareness and inspires a self-expressive spirit. The happy results are a stronger body, increased flexibility, better overall fitness and lots of fun. Jill and Lesley, known as NiaDivas, are so sure that you’ll love Nia that they offer a FREE Welcome Class the second Saturday of every month at the beautiful dance studio in the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Delridge Way. What’s the best way to describe Nia? Jill and Lesley, who have been teaching Nia in West Seattle for three years, sum it up with “it’s inspirational fitness for an extraordinary you.” Click here to sign up for the next FREE Welcome to Nia class — coming up THIS Saturday! WSB welcomes the NiaDivas to our sponsor team; full list is here, with info on how to be part of it!
Seattle Public Utilities is checking on the official pickup-catchup status for us, on behalf of those who reported last night that they were missed yesterday — but we can report in the meantime that yard waste (including Christmas trees) in our neighborhood, scheduled for yesterday, has just been picked up now. Meantime, SPU is supposed to be part of today’s City Council briefing on the December storm response — yesterday’s briefing before the entire council focused on two departments; this one’s wider in scope, before a joint meeting of the council committees responsible for Emergency Management/Utilities and Transportation, and includes public-comment time. 9:30 this morning, City Hall, you’re invited to be there, or you can watch via Seattle Channel, cable 21, seattlechannel.org online. 9:32 AM UPDATE: The briefing has begun. As we did yesterday, we’ll “tweet” a few in-progress updates (they’ll turn up here and in the turquoise box in the WSB sidebar), and write a full article afterward.
(video unavailable due to demise of blip.tv)
Just before the extra round of snow hit on Sunday, Bill Reiswig — best known as president of Sustainable West Seattle — sent us that video from December, along with the reminder that what we experienced for those two weeks wasn’t all a “Snowmare”:
For two straight nights my pals Dan Pitt, Randy White and I skiied from the literal top of Seattle (the watertowers at 35th and Myrtle) all the way down to Puget Sound by skiing Othello and Myrtle/Frontenac. While the latter is a steeper route, you can ride Othello down, across California, across Fauntleroy, and down Lincoln Park Way from 520 elev. to sea level in about 3-4 minutes. Our descents are, I believe the first documented descent of Seattle top to bottom on skis, thanks very much. The Beveridge Place Pub was open till 2 am, and we stopped in for beers for a break. Truly good skiing right here in West Seattle, without the fossil fuels spent to get to the mountain.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
By mid-afternoon tomorrow, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson will announce her “final recommendations” for which school buildings and “programs” to close, in hopes of saving the district millions of dollars. Her announcement won’t be the last word — the proposal will be formally introduced at the following night’s School Board meeting, and then a final round of hearings/meetings (and no doubt protests) will follow, till board members’ scheduled vote on January 29th.
When the process began, the timing was considered difficult at best.Read More
14 years ago tonight, a crime of greed took a terrible toll: Four Seattle firefighters lost their lives in a commercial warehouse in the International District that was set ablaze by its owner’s son. Tonight, those four firefighters — Randy Terlicker, James Brown, Lt. Greg Shoemaker, and Lt. Walter Kilgore (namesake of the Honor Guard shown in the photo above) — were remembered at Holy Family School, Terlicker’s alma mater. Those in attendance included Fire Chief Gregory Dean, Mayor Nickels, City Council President Richard Conlin, and City Councilmembers Tom Rasmussen and Tim Burgess. The event also raised money for Holy Family scholarships to be granted by the Randy Terlicker Endowment Fund. ADDED 10:30 PM: Video of the Seattle Fire Department Pipes and Drums Band procession, followed by the Honor Guard presenting the colors:
Randy’s mom Colleen Terlicker shared memories tonight as well:
Her son was only 35 when he died in the warehouse fire; James Brown was 25; Lt. Kilgore, 45; Lt. Shoemaker, 43. Three years after the fire, arsonist Martin Pang was sentenced to 35 years in prison; as this 1998 Times story notes, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter – murder charges were rendered impossible by the extradition agreement with Brazil, to which he had fled after the crime.
This car-burglary report actually came in from KB last night, while the snow was still falling fast and furious:
Near 32nd and Kenyon [map]: Windows smashed in and radio stolen, but no other items. (lots of CDs and a jacket left inside)
As you’ll note in the stories linked from the WSB West Seattle Crime Watch page, car-targeting crooks seem to be on more of a rampage than ever.
At midday today, we photographed that scene outside WSB HQ – two UPS trucks pulled over, with one driver transferring packages to the other. At the time, we had questions out to UPS’ communications team regarding loose ends from the Snowstorm ’08-related delivery delays (here’s our most recent item from last Friday); while we were away from the computer for a while this afternoon, Trevor Williams from UPS communications replied to those questions. Read on for what he told us, published in Q/A format – the questions exactly as we sent them, and the answers exactly as he e-mailed back:Read More
(2:35 PM note: Archived video of the briefing is now available online – the storm discussion begins halfway through the 2-hour clip.)
(December 21 photo by Ian)
What happened in December wasn’t the “typical” Seattle storm, two city department heads reiterated, repeatedly, this morning, while presenting City Councilmembers with the first of several briefings they have requested regarding how said storm was handled. The briefers: Office of Emergency Management director Barb Graff and Seattle Department of Transportation director Grace Crunican. What they said, and what councilmembers said, ahead:Read More
Moments after a media advisory from Seattle City Light‘s Mike Eagan announced that everyone citywide has their power back — he sent word to WSB that there’s a new “small power outage” in West Seattle: “It’s affecting up to 120 customers and the estimated time of restoration is 4 p.m. The boundaries are SW Holly St. on the north, SW Southern St. on the south, 34th Ave. SW on the east and 44th Ave. SW on the west.” Most of that area’s in Gatewood; the boundaries are often wider than the actual outage – but these would potentially include some of the south Morgan Junction businesses, so we’ll head down the hill to check on them shortly. 12:30 PM UPDATE: Co-publisher Patrick just traveled through that business district – no power problems apparent, so it must be elsewhere within the “boundaries.”
During the Seattle City Council briefing that just ended regarding city response to last month’s snow, SDOT director Grace Crunican confirmed that some salt was used on roads last night. Earlier this morning, we had sent a request to SDOT communications director Rick Sheridan seeking details on the reported salt usage, and whether anyone would notice car effect as a result. Here’s his response, including West Seattle specifics:
With many parts of the city reporting significant snowfall on Sunday evening, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) did utilize salt in our snow removal efforts. As West Seattle, Capitol Hill, Upper Queen Anne and northern parts of the city all saw at least four inches of snow, this emergency use of salt adheres to the guidelines established by Mayor Nickels last week.
SDOT crews mixed the salt with sand and applied it to primary arterials, hills, bus routes, bridges, and around emergency facilities like hospitals. West Seattle’s 35th Avenue SW from SW Avalon Way to SW Roxbury Street is a primary arterial where SDOT spread salt.
The department only applied it from roughly 8:30 p.m. to midnight before switching back to our chemical de-icer. So we are confident that salt was utilized only when most needed and that roadway users should not notice anything different on their vehicles.
Meantime, we’re now writing up our summary of highlights from the council briefing – the first of several (next one will include a public-comment period and will include participation from Seattle Public Utilities regarding the trash/recycling/yard waste pickup problems, which weren’t in the scope of today’s discussion).
Two quick updates on the arrests of three armed-robbery suspects in the Admiral District — believed linked to a series of holdups around the area over the past month — as first reported here yesterday morning: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says bail hearings are planned for the three later today; Seattle Police note that they believe more robbers were involved in some of the crimes, so they are looking for other suspects.
Live coverage has just started on Seattle Channel (cable 21, or online at seattlechannel.org). This is a council briefing WITHOUT public comment, focusing on the Office of Emergency Management and Department of Transportation. If anything major is revealed, we’ll add it here; otherwise, watch for a summary afterward. Looks like the council has some other business to handle first (including a report on “toxic runoff”), so the storm-response agenda item is NOT first up. 9:55 AM UPDATE: It’s going to be a while – they haven’t gotten through the other agenda items yet. But they are discussing other possible additions to the review schedule, such as inviting the mayor to listen to public comment at some point (first public comment opportunity is at a council briefing at 9:30 am tomorrow), and possibly scheduling an evening meeting for public comment. They are now starting a briefing on salmon, city creeks, and toxic runoff; the storm discussion is to follow that. The creek briefing is certainly relevant to Fauntleroy and Longfellow Creeks in West Seattle, so we’ll summarize its key points afterward too. 10:27 AM UPDATE: Storm response presentation is starting now. 11:33 AM UPDATE: It’s over now, with some interesting revelations along the way – writing up a separate summary.
(CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE NEWEST UPDATE; SCHOOL STATUS: SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, OPEN ON TIME, RUNNING REGULAR BUS ROUTES; VASHON SCHOOLS 2-HR DELAY FOR POWER OUTAGE)
ORIGINAL 4 AM POST: We’ll be on the live-update beat in the 5 am hour, but we’re setting this up sooner so you can start checking the latest commute and school info early, and sharing the situation where you’re at (watch out for the wind, which started to pick up after 2 am):
METRO ROUTE CHANGES: Before the snow began to melt in the wee hours, it had affected myriad bus routes. Go here for the latest list of changes.
TRAFFIC CAMS: All the cams of specific West Seattle interest (including routes out of/into WS) can be found on the WSB Traffic page.
LIVE 911 LOG: Check it here, just in case you hear a siren or see a fire/aid crew. (Remember, this site shows Fire Department responses only, not police.)
TRASH/YARD WASTE/ETC.: No updates from Seattle Public Utilities since the snow, so we’ll refer you to the story we published at midday Sunday.
5:54 AM UPDATE: Back live. Just finishing a phone conversation with a Seattle City Light spokesperson. They have no estimated time for restoration of this outage, nor any specific information so far on where it originated. As for schools – no word of any changes, so far, for Seattle Public Schools, per either online source. Here’s the latest Metro overview, saying “most” routes are normal this morning (use the link above to see whether yours is among the exceptions).
6:05 AM UPDATE: As “Cheeky” points out in comments, Seattle Public Schools just updated its homepage to say “All Seattle Public Schools will open on time today, Monday, January 5, and buses will operate on regular routes.” Wait! Power just came back on! (6:07 am)
6:21 AM UPDATE: Co-publisher Patrick is going out to see if any outage pockets remain. A couple reports of restored power have come in via Twitter, so we’re hopeful that means everyone is back on. Regarding buses – several West Seattle routes are listed in the latest Metro update on route changes – so check this list before you go. We have a road-condition report from Scott C, who commuted to Everett about an hour ago – 35th a little slushy, bridge OK, I-5 just fine. (Lou says the same thing in comments re: the drive to downtown.) One more school note – Vashon mentions a 2-hour delay, with the possibility that might change if power there remains out.
6:40 AM UPDATE: From SDOT, via Twitter: “SDOT has 20 plows clearing city streets. 3 dedicated to the WS Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Roads in downtown in very good shape.” Patrick is just back from driving around the area and says it looks like the power is back on for everyone — if not for you, be sure City Light knows (684-3000) — but some stoplights haven’t returned to normal yet; 26th and Barton, by Westwood Village, for example, was “flashing red and yellow simultaneously,” he reports. Roads are slushy but drivable; the walkway outside your home may be your biggest troublespot, so keep that in mind.
7:35 AM UPDATE: Still watching the commute overall. No major problems, aside from the aforementioned bus reroutes. Our nearest arterial (California SW, south through Gatewood) is mostly bare and wet – quite a difference from previous post-snow situations, but then again, circumstances were different too – warmer temperatures, wetter snow. The latest forecast is resolute that temperatures will stay higher for quite some time, but also mentions breeziness today. Online note: WSDOT says via Twitter that its website is having trouble today because of a cooling problem in the server room.
7:51 AM UPDATE: Two notes: Marilyn Mar from City Light just called to say that not everybody’s back on — about 300 homes/businesses in West Seattle remain without power. Also, a trash truck just turned up in our neighborhood, on what you would consider a side street, so that could be a good omen for everyone expecting pickup today.
8:04 AM UPDATE: Medic/fire crews have just been dispatched to a “motor vehicle accident” call at West Marginal Way/Highland Park Way. Meanwhile, another arterial report: Brian at Stor-More Self-Storage (WSB sponsor) says Avalon’s “slush and blacktop” (they’re midway up the Avalon hill, at Yancy).
8:14 AM UPDATE: The Marginal/HP Way call has closed already, which at the very least indicates no serious injuries.
9:09 AM UPDATE: Streets near us are now mostly just puddled. Commute still fairly uneventful, though some scattered reports of bus delays. We’ll add word here if anything else major happens but otherwise, in 20 minutes we’ll be covering the City Council briefing about last month’s storm response, first of several. Today’s briefing — 9:30 am, you can watch live on cable or online via Seattle Channel — is described as follows:
An overview from Office of Emergency Management and Seattle Department of Transportation on the Storm Response, including information from the Seattle Fire Department and Seattle Police Department.
(photo of official WSB “outages can’t stop us” setup added 11:41 pm)
ORIGINAL 10:46 PM POST: Our power’s out too, but we have laptop power backups and two forms of wireless Internet, so we will continue reporting on the storm and its effects. Can’t see lights anywhere around, for a couple blocks north on California from Thistle, or eastbound up Thistle, or down the hill. Also got a text message saying power is out in North Shorewood. Several other areas posted comments about power flickers shortly before this outage – which followed several LONG flickers (power on for a moment, off for a few seconds, repeat, repeat). More to come. There are numerous outages listed on the City Light page now.
10:58 PM UPDATE: We’ve closed the earlier post; this one will be our overnight storm coverage post, with the power outage the biggest story right now, but also feel free to post about anything else storm-related, and we will add whatever else we find out, too. Hauling out the battery-operated hand-held TV (which won’t work after next month’s DTV transition, darn) to check on 11 pm news. Also got this snow note from Celeste:
A fire truck just tried to go up 40th between Genesee and Dakota got stuck maybe a third of the way up the hill and had to back down and go up Genesee.
TV news just quoted City Light as reporting “four separate outages” totaling about 4,000 customers (hmm, the City Light site lists more than that), with the West Seattle-Burien outage being the biggest one.
11:07 PM UPDATE: The comment section is reporting outage zones faster than we can repost them here, so be sure to keep an eye there too. We’re also watching Twitter; Hopey here in West Seattle tweeted that KING5 reported “a little salt” is mixed in with the sand that’s being used on roads tonight. In addition to what’s in the comments, we’ve received e-mail from the Westwood Village vicinity, where The House is in the dark, and Ann from Full Tilt Ice Cream in White Center tells us friends on Vashon lost their power around 9:30 tonight. Seems a lot of us (comments indicate this too) saw flashes before the outage – if it was lightning, sure didn’t hear thunder. Looks like at this point the south half of West Seattle is hit hardest, generalizing from comments, tweets, FB.
11:40 PM UPDATE: Just stepped outside. Snow seems to have stopped. No rain falling either but it SOUNDS like rain – the snow falling off the branches, slipping off the roof, the branches, etc.
12:04 AM UPDATE: No official outage info yet. Here’s a link you might find interesting if you’re wondering about your fridge full of food (that was our only loss back in the ’06 multi-day outage) – a Red Cross info-sheet we linked to before the windstorm-that-wasn’t last month. A radio report says the outages total more than 19,000 customers (homes/businesses) around the city and may not be resolved before morning. Meantime, a few more photos we were in the process of getting to, before the outage shifted the emphasis away from the snow – this one from MarkB at 41st/Dakota:
From Chas Redmond in Gatewood:
Looking ahead at practicalities for the morning: Metro continues to update its “adverse weather” page with changes; find it here. (We’ll start a new morning-commute post later, but this one will keep going overnight for power updates etc.)
12:40 PM UPDATE: City Light’s update line went through a long list of outages but didn’t list this particular one. So we’re on hold to see if we can get a live person with their latest guesstimate on restoration. Of the ones around the city that WERE listed on the line, estimated restoration time was either 3 am or 6 am. So don’t expect power back on soon.
1:08 AM UPDATE: Good news and bad news. Good news, the plow that Mike mentioned in comments, southbound on California from Morgan Junction, is the big yellow snow-clearing grader that the city started deploying about midway through the December snow – we just saw it at California/Thistle. Bad news, we finally got a live person at SCL who said there’s no specific estimated time of restoration yet for the outage we’re in the middle of (the biggest one in WS). P.S. Radio says more than 2,000 are powerless on Vashon – we mentioned their outage earlier, and have visual confirmation via our “peek view” that no lights are visible on north Vashon (aside from those of docked ferries).
2:07 AM UPDATE: No new word on the outage status. A few more photos to share, though. First, before the snow’s all gone, a few more scenes: First, a snowman by Lauren Jacobs, home from college:
Next, a Japanese maple coated in snow, from Frank in Westwood:
Those two came in earlier tonight — but this one just arrived in the WSB inbox a short time ago, from Karen in Hansen View (south of Providence Mount St. Vincent):
Karen explains:
Was about to call it a night a few minutes ago & then noticed through one of our windows that a giant limb on the neighbor’s birch tree was missing. It had broken off & fallen between our two houses! We have no idea how it did so without anyone hearing it. Amazingly, it didn’t take out our fence & it didn’t seem to damage either house…
(CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEW OVERNIGHT COVERAGE POST - THIS ONE IS "CLOSED")
(video added 5:13 pm, shot just after 5 o'clock in Upper Fauntleroy)
ORIGINAL 3:26 PM POST: Multiple reports from various areas of West Seattle (and, via Twitter, elsewhere in the city). Web/radio weather celebrity Cliff Mass explains what it's all about. The official National Weather Service "forecast discussion" posted minutes ago alludes to it too - insists it'll turn to rain by midnight - and warns of a windy night ahead. Keep us updated on what's happening where you are ...
4:55 PM UPDATE: Sticking on the top of the car now. (minutes later) And on the street.
5:26 PM UPDATE: Thanks for sending photos! First one, from Lari at 53rd/Charlestown (map):
And this one from Creighton, taken in The Junction:
We're getting lots of snow reports via Facebook (we're WS Blog) and Twitter (@westseattleblog), too. Some areas say they have almost an inch already!
6:07 PM UPDATE: If you haven't gone outside, do note that - as some have observed already - this is NOT the same snow that fell last month. This is wet, slippery, slushy, and sloppy. But to reiterate, this is what the 3:30 forecast update said - half an hour after this started:
TONIGHT...RAIN OR SNOW THIS EVENING BECOMING ALL RAIN BY MIDNIGHT. BECOMING WINDY. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH...EXCEPT UP TO 2 INCHES WEST OF PUGET SOUND. TEMPERATURES RISING INTO THE UPPER 30S TO LOWER 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND RISING TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 45 MPH.
MONDAY...WINDY. RAIN IN THE MORNING...THEN SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE MID TO UPPER 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 20 TO 30 MPH.
6:25 PM UPDATE: Reminder that if you are wondering about the bridge, the cameras (and others) are all on our WSB Traffic page. From Morgan Junction, Tamsen sent this photo taken within the past half-hour:
Pamela sent this photo captioned "High Point snow" with the note, "We ARE going to school tomorrow - no matter what!"
6:52 PM UPDATE: Scott C has measured more than an inch already (he says the mark is "submerged"):
At least two inches of snow on Pigeon Point, according to Lora from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) - here's her photographic proof:
Via Twitter, Nathan just reported: "gnarly driving on the west seattle bridge now, about 10 feet of visibility, wind and lots of snow." Here's the latest live image from the camera pointing east on The Bridge (refresh for the latest view):
7:03 PM UPDATE: Guess what! The National Weather Service updated its forecast last hour (which usually isn't done between mid-afternoon and late evening) to add a "Winter Weather Advisory," in effect till 9 pm.
7:20 PM UPDATE: Also rest assured, we're watching the various official sources for any hint of possible changes tomorrow, but given that the forecast continues to insist this will go away, don't expect any decisions to be made before very early morning. We'll be on watch here well into the night, and then again very early. Meantime - besides the Twitter-watching link we shared earlier, you can also see some of the West Seattle snow tweets on the WSB Twitter page (also catching others' tweets that mention WS). And let us know if you see a snowplow/sander - we're still awaiting any official city word of deployment.
7:33 PM UPDATE: Multiple reports of satellite-TV (DirecTV) outage. On a forecast note: Cliff Mass has published an update - he says it will continue snowing till 10 or 11 pm.
7:45 PM UPDATE: From the scanner, all police precincts are "chaining up." Comment from Dan reports a power outage:
Power is out on Sylvan Way between 16th and (it looks like) at least 28th SW. No power at the traffic lights or for the ARCO/Shell stations @Delridge and Sylvan.
City Light power-outage phone line says there are "numerous" storm-related outages citywide - too numerous to list specifically. The City Light website for power outages, meantime, lists nothing. Also NOT reflecting any storm-related trouble, the Metro home page (at least as of now). And another road report via Twitter: "SW Oregon to SW Dawson very slippery uphill btw delridge and 16th SW." Also for the record, just re-timestamped this post to 5:22 pm (it originally was published at 3:26 pm) so it will appear at the top of the home page TFN (we'll open a late-night post in a few hours, but this will keep going till then). Another photo now from Scott C, who says his "neighbors have been busy!"
This snowman photo's from Lisa L, who reports "We built a Shriner snowman!"
Just measured almost 2" of snow at WSB HQ in Upper Fauntleroy.
8:19 PM UPDATE: Two things - First, in comments, Yumpears reports seeing sand trucks on The Bridge, going eastbound:
Just drove home from Children’s Theater in lower Queen Anne. We were in an old toyota camry and made it just fine. Saw two sand truck on the high bridge heading east about 15 minutes ago. The westbound lanes don’t appear to be sanded yet.
Second, since we currently are using the "newest info at the bottom of the post" format to keep it close to the comments, which are full of important information too, we are going to try something new for the people who keep refreshing and then having to scroll down - We are putting a link at the top of the post (right under the headline) that will always take you to the start of the newest thing we've added. Might help a little. It will be in place in a few minutes. But right now, the first city news release of the night:
Facing the first major snowfall of 2009, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is aggressively plowing, de-icing and sanding arterials around the city. The department advises motorists to drive with care as they move around Seattle on Sunday evening. Currently, the main arterials are slushy but passable.
SDOT currently has 16 trucks plowing, sanding and de-icing city streets, with two devoted solely to the West Seattle Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Within the next hour there will be 24 trucks total clearing major city roadways. Though rain and rising temperatures are forecasted, the department will work through the night to clear primary and secondary arterials, with an eye on routes for the morning commute.
8:37 PM UPDATE: Photo and bus update from Paul Gould:
Paul says: "Metro 54 bus stuck on Barton at 38th (by water tower) heading uphill. It is one of the articulated buses, apparently with bald tires, as the rear tires have zero traction. The driver has been trying for quite a while and some of the residents had to move their cars out of the way. He has now slid his back wheels into the curb. He may have to wait until it starts raining." No weather updates on Metro home page yet, if you're wondering. We sent County Executive Ron Sims a message via Twitter asking if the Metro web team is heading in to do something about that; no reply - most recent tweet was about a Shoreline blog post re: jail-site fight. (later note: he did reply at 8:52, "We're working on it")
8:55 PM UPDATE: First word of a closure/change for tomorrow morning - Jason at The Bohemian e-mailed this:
Due to the weather, and the possibility of a more severe development... We are closed tomorrow for a.m. service. The Bohemian will be open at 4 pm for Happy Hour and Supper service @ 5 pm.
As many West Seattleites are all too well aware, tomorrow is supposed to be trash and yard-waste pickup day for many neighborhoods - also, recycling catch-up day for many who are still awaiting the delayed Friday (Saturday) pickup - here's what we reported about that earlier today. No word YET of any city changes on that front; we'll of course be on the lookout. For now, trash cans and Christmas trees are gathering a fresh coat of snow:
Second photo is courtesy Jack Loblaw. Inspires us to suggest we may be to blame for First Snow '09 - we took down and put out our tree this afternoon, shortly before the snow began; back on December 13th, the first round of snow started hours after we BOUGHT said tree and brought it home.
9:04 PM UPDATE: Both the county and city have finally started sending out some snow info via Twitter. (You can find the county at @kingcountynews and the city at @sdotsnow - those links take you to the websites that archive the Twitter messages, so you can read them even if you don't have a Twitter account.) Uh oh - our favorite ex-co-worker meteorologist Walter Kelley from Channel 13 (they do a 9 pm newscast on cable channel 10) says up to three MORE inches before the snow stops?! 2 bus tidbits in the past few minutes from that King County Twitter account:
Some of the buses on the road this evening are encountering difficult driving conditions, but none are on snow routing yet ... KC Staff will be working overnight to chain buses if necessary and to drive the bus routes to see where problems await the buses
9:33 PM UPDATE: More info via Twitter. First, from the county (@kingcountynews): "Metro Transit is experiencing some snow-related service disruptions this evening, but there are not many buses on the road at this time." Second, from the City of Tacoma (@CityofTacoma), a note that the snow has changed to rain down there; that's the direction this came from at mid-afternoon, so perhaps there indeed is hope! (Also, the county info has just appeared here in short news-release form.)
9:45 PM UPDATE: New video clip from outside WSB HQ a short time ago - just in case you haven't gone outside in a few hours and are wondering what it looks like up close:
Dunsany e-mails from Highland Park about something that you're likely seeing too - branches heavy with snow, in danger of snapping and breaking power and phone lines, among other potential problems. Illustrated, in fact, by another photo from Hotwire's Lora on Pigeon Point:
10:01 PM UPDATE: First bus-route changes listed here. For WS, 21 "is not operating south of Roxbury."
10:21 PM UPDATE: More than seven hours of snow now; many people are reporting at least five inches on the ground. Definitely enough for snowmen - we showed you a few earlier, and here's another one: Alison and her husband made this one at 44th/Admiral and call your attention in particular to the sign:
Still no word of any school delays for tomorrow; we expect those (if any) to be decided early in the morning, so we'll be updating live starting around 4 am. We'll also be switching to an "overnight snow notes" post sometime after 11 pm.
10:36 PM UPDATE: Power is out here at WSB HQ in Upper Fauntleroy. We have a big supply of batteries plus two forms of wireless Internet backup, so we'll be continuing our coverage. Not sure how far this outage extends; we'll go outside and look down California in a moment.
10:55 PM UPDATE: We’re closing this post – had planned to open a new one right about now for overnight coverage anyway. The new one is focused right now on the power outages but we can and will also report on, and discuss, other snow effects. Click here to go there.
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