A frozen palm in an E Harrison roundabout (Image: Caroline)
(Image: @breiyin)
UPDATE: Details from the latest winter weather advisory issued just before 2p:
WESTERN WASHING TON WILL CONTINUE TO SEE A MIXED BAG OF WINTRY WEATHER TONIGHT WITH FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND MORE SNOW EXPECTED ACROSS THE LOWLANDS. WARMER AIR WILL MOVE INLAND LATE TONIGHT WITH TEMPERATURES MODERATING AND PRECIPITATION CHANGING OVER TO ALL RAIN FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING ON FRIDAY. ANOTHER STRONG...WET SYSTEM WILL BRING HEAVY SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS FRIDAY EVENING INTO SATURDAY.
Meanwhile, the City says to get home before dark:
With ice and snow continuing to cause challenging travel conditions, the City of Seattle is encouraging people to get home before dark if possible. After dark, icy conditions may worsen and ice will become more difficult to see.
Pedestrians should exercise caution – many sidewalks are icy, and there is danger of falling ice from trees, buildings and power lines.
Schools are again closed on Friday. Metro will be on snow routes. We're almost done. Enjoy it while it lasts?
UPDATE: Thaw delayed. We're going to see more of this today before things finally start warming up on Friday, Cliff Mass says.
You can help us by letting everybody know about side street conditions in your area. Tell us what you're seeing via Facebook, Twitter, or email -- or call/txt (206) 399-5959.
Original Report: That tap tap tap tapping at your window isn't the devil come to call Capitol Hill after snow day revelry. An emergency ice storm warning has been issued for Seattle:
VERY ICY CONDITIONS THIS MORNING OVER SOUTH PARTS OF WESTERN WASHINGTON...
.A WARM FRONT WILL SPREAD RAIN OVER THE TOP OF COLD AIR TRAPPED AT THE SURFACE...RESULTING IN FREEZING RAIN...MODERATE AT TIMES THIS MORNING. THE RAIN IS EXPECTED TO EASE LATE THIS MORNING AND TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO CREEP ABOVE FREEZING BY ABOUT MIDDAY.
Here's the latest on getting around as we push toward getting back to normal and getting back to work. First piece of advice: sensible shoes. It's a slippery mess out there.
Hill style: Thanks to Marty from Seattle Spirits for this image of high fashion from 22nd at E Pine
Frozen streets of Capitol Hill (Image: CHS)
Plan for time to thaw your car (Image: CHS)
The promised land: 23rd Ave (Image: CHS)
- Metro: Remains on snow routes. Metro Adverse Weather Page
- SDOT has cleared the highest priority arteries in our area -- 23rd, Madison and Broadway. Check out the big snow priority map, below. Good luck getting to them. If you are planning to drive, you can check out the latest de-icing and clearing work on the city's new winter weather map. Red routes have been recently worked on.
Live view of Broadway/Roy -- All Cams
Live view of Broadway/Pike -- All Cams
Live view of Boren/Madison -- All Cams
- Side streets: Expect to find icy and rough roads on secondary streets in the neighborhood. Side streets are mostly untouched and very difficult for driving.
- Sea-Tac flights have been halted by ice for the morning. No word on resumption but, if you were planning travel to the airport, start the process of making new plans.
- Seattle Public Schools are canceled. Good luck, parents. We'll post updates about other schools as we catch up.
- Sidewalks: The Hill's busiest walking routes are a problem. Slopes and icy snow conspire to make you slip. Take it slow. Stay off the phone. Bring a well-balanced friend.
- Driving: As challenging as walking is right now, driving is even more treacherous. Cleared streets might suddenly have a slippery patch of black ice. Even the pros are having problems with trucks spinning out and a full Metro bus into a tree in the University District. UPDATE: Via police radio, we've learned you also don't want some idiot punching you while you drive. According to the SPD report, a rider punched the Metro driver, causing him to veer off the road and strike a tree. The driver suffered a broken leg.
- Power: So far, not a problem but ice + trees + power lines could be a recipe for outages on the Hill.
- Cliff Mass: Writes about the rarity of an ice storm in Western Washington, here.
- Last night: Sledders and revelers were in full effect. SPD fielded several noise complaint calls including one involving "a hundred people drinking and sledding" at Denny Way. Here's one account from how SPD tactfully handled a Capitol Hill sledding call on Wednesday. Even with the huge crowd on Denny, we count only three medic dispatches to that area of the Hill on Wednesday but only one we know of involved the sledding crowd.
- Garbage and recycling: No residential pick-up with limited commercial service. If you live in an apartment with no kids, you can't imagine how much cardboard the average family builds up in a week.
- Notes: Area medical facilities are delaying "opening" as possible. Group Health, for example, isn't opening its medical center until 10a. Urgent care is, of course, operating.
- We broadcast information frequently via Twitter so check out the @jseattle stream for information.
- The CHS Capitol Hill traffic cam page is here
- PDF maps of priority snow routes for the city are here.
- From the archives: list of highest elevations and steepest streets.
- Wednesday's coverage | Tuesday's coverage | Monday's coverage | Sunday's coverage
Not going anywhere (Image: CHS)
Latest CHS weather coverage
o Metro info
o Hill traffic cams
o City Winter Storm Info
o Seattle SnowWatch
o Twitter updates
Tweet details with hashtag #seasnow to appear in this feed:
8:14AM - UPDATES - This is a good time to thank Weather Underground for its nifty crowd-sourced system of micro-climate monitoring stations. The Capitol Hill station reports we're still a long climb from getting over the freezing mark. Here's the day's trend so far. Overnight low of 26.3 F.
9:20AM -