First the Rain, then the Snow, and now the Ice

Yesterday the greater Seattle area got walloped by a snow squall that moved through during the evening commute. Here at Cleverpup Studios we picked up an additional 2 inches of snow as it came down fast and heavy for an hour. Ian went outside for 10 minutes with his friends and came back in covered with snow. We stayed warm and cozy inside as the snow turned our neighborhood into a real winter wonderland.

The rest of Seattle didnt fare as well...The storm turned the main freeways into a icy skating rink and the people who were downtown at the Seahawks/ Greenbay Packers game (Seattle won!) found an icy gridlock on the way home.

Heres some of the more frigid stories gleamed from the local news:

SEATTLE - After a day of snow and a miserable Monday evening commute, Tuesday is already much worse. In fact for some, the Tuesday morning commute was an extension of a futile attempt to finish the Monday evening commute, and the State Patrol is advising everyone in the region to just stay off the roads.

More than 350,000 students in the central Puget Sound area alone got snow holidays Tuesday, including roughly 76,000 in Seattle and Tacoma, following traffic nightmares for tens of thousands of commuters Monday evening. In schools that were open, classes were delayed for tens of thousands of students.

Snow and slush that fell yesterday has frozen on many roads throughout the Puget Sound area as temperatures plummeted into the teens and 20s overnight, and dozens of spinouts and crashes overnight kept troopers and transportation crews very busy.

Transportation officials said many of the people on the roads early Tuesday were those who had been trying to get home since Monday night. Many of those stranded were those trying to get home from the Seattle Seahawks game that ended around 9:30. With traffic at nearly a standstill in many areas some commuters reported being on the road for nearly eight hours. DOT cameras showing freeways at 2 a.m. looked jammed just like what they typically would show at 5 p.m.

Parking lots near major interstates were full of people who couldn't make it home Monday night and decided to get off the roads and sleep in their cars.

Dozens of tractor-trailer rigs were off Interstate 5 Tuesday morning on a hill beside the Southcenter shopping mall south of Seattle.

Police and towtruck operators couldn't keep up with cars sliding off Interstate 405 Monday evening in the suburbs east of Lake Washington.

"It's unbelievable. It's like I'm driving in Alaska out here," said Trooper Jeff Merrill of the Washington State Patrol, from directing drivers near I-405 and State Route 527 in Bothell.

Temperatures dropped as low as 25 in Seattle, 20 in Everett, and into the low teens in Whatcom and Skagit County. And temperatures Tuesday night were expected to be another 2-6 degrees colder as more arctic air pours into the region.

Meanwhile, the snow and ice in the Puget Sound area have left thousands of utility customers without electricity.


Stay home...I think thats a very good idea!