We have 3-4″ of snow on our North Beacon Hill fence right now. How’s it going where you are? How are the streets on your part of the Hill? Beacon Avenue South appears to be slush on pavement right now. But I’d be a little concerned about the hilly side streets.
If you want to get around without using your car, Metro Transit’s Adverse Weather page is helpful. According to Metro, the 36 bus “does not have pre-planned snow routing. It is operating via its regular route and stops, but with possible significant delays due to weather, road or traffic conditions.” The 38 bus (which goes down steep South McClellan) is cancelled. The 60 doesn’t have changes on Beacon Hill itself, but it is not operating on East Yesler Way, 9th Avenue between Spruce Street and Jefferson Street, and on Olsen Place Southwest between 4th Avenue Southwest and 1st Avenue Southwest in the eastbound direction.
Snow in a Beacon Hill yard during the big December snow of 2008. Photo by Wendi.
Cliff Mass says, “The new forecast models are increasingly threatening for colder temperatures and lowland snow from Sunday through Wednesday of next week,” though he does qualify this prediction, stating that the forecasts aren’t “ideal for a truly major event.” Define “truly,” Cliff.
Anyway, we all live on a hill, like many Seattle residents, and know that snow can provide some unique challenges to mobility. Unlike many neighborhoods, however, we have access to Link light rail, which should make it easy to get around—as long as you are going where the train does.
If it really does snow, and South McClellan is closed to cars, I recommend using Link as a ski lift. Ski down McClellan to Mount Baker Station. Take the train back up to Beacon Hill Station. Get a hot cocoa at The Station. Ski down again. Repeat. Your ticket is good for two hours. (If you actually try this, I’d love to see photos and video.)
Be prepared, stay warm, and cross your fingers for next week, whether you’re a snow-lover or a snow-hater.
There’s only a tiny bit of snow on the Hill right now, left over from last night. Like everyone else in Seattle, we are waiting to see if today’s promised snow day arrives. (KIRO’s Sam Argier just tweeted “Latest computer model coming in much more aggressive with Wednesday’s snow” and showed a 1″-4″ predicted snowfall for the city.) A winter storm warning is in effect until 10 a.m. Thursday morning. Keep your eyes on School Report for any potential closures, and be aware that the snow may hit us during the evening commute as it did during the November storm—consider leaving your car home, if possible.
We probably won't get this much snow today -- we hope. Photo from the December 2008 snowstorm, by Wendi.
These are some of the photos added to the the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr during January. Thanks to the many photographers who contributed this month! Your photos are welcome, too. Photo by Bridget Christian.A Jefferson Park path end. Photo by go-team.Stevens Place Park during the January 11 snow. Photo by Wendi.Downtown sparkling like diamonds from Dr. Jose Rizal Park. Photo by Casey Sjogren.A view down the west tunnel of the Southbound Link train at Beacon Hill Station. (Photo was taken from the platform, believe it or not.) Photo by natfoot. At the Lunar New Year Festival last weekend in the nearby International District. Photo by RS_Photographs.
A new record low overnight temperature was set this morning: 14F at Sea-Tac Airport. The bitter cold means that many streets are still quite slick today, and driving may still be hazardous. Take transit if you can. King County Metro says that buses are still on snow routes, but fewer routes will be cancelled. (Route 38 on McClellan, however, is one of them.) See the Transit Alerts Center for the latest information. Sound Transit’s alert page is here.
SDOT tweeted that “Snow routes in good condition due to overnight work. No significant problems in that network of streets.”
The Seattle Times (BHB news partner) has an interesting article on why Seattle can’t handle snow. It explains, among other things, why the anti-ice chemicals sprayed on major arterials in advance of the storm actually made things worse: the brine was diluted by the melting snow, making it ineffective against further snow, and then refroze into a slick sheet of ice.
Speaking of ice, there’s a lot of ice still on sidewalks, steps, and walkways. Please clear the ones you’re responsible for—falling on the ice can be really dangerous.
More images of a snowy Beacon Hill from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Do you have photos of Beacon Hill? We invite you to add them to the pool, and thank those of you who have contributed!
Near the fire station at Beacon and Spokane Street. Photo by Furchin.By RS_Photographs.The historic church building at 16th and Forest catches the rays of Tuesday's sunrise. Photo by Wendi.Photo by K. Shuyler.In this snow and light, the temporary fence at Jefferson Park almost looks like art. Photo by Furchin.
About 4:00 pm. Photo by Wendi.It was a long, strange trip for a lot of folks yesterday—from work to home. The Monday evening commute took hours for many, as snowy, icy conditions turned local streets into curling rinks, parking lots, and probably a few other things that no thoroughfare should be. It reminded some of us of December 18, 1990, when a similar stormwreaked havoc on the afternoon commute. (That one, with 8 to 14 inches, was worse.) This animated gif gives you an idea how bad it was last night. (We found it in a tweet from @KIRO7Seattle, but we aren’t sure who originally created it.)
We got about 4 inches of snow on North Beacon Hill, but the wind and blowing, drifting snow makes the actual measurement difficult to determine. The conditions here as of 3:00 am are very cold and windy, with dry, granular snow that is, in some places, drifting on top of earlier ice. Walking is treacherous and driving is worse. The snow isn’t melting any time soon—as of now, the National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 25 and a low tonight of 13 for Beacon Hill.
As far as today goes, here’s what we know:
The University of Washington Seattle campus and Seattle Public Schools are closed today. See schoolreport.org for the status of other schools, colleges, and universities.
Link Light Rail performed like a champ on Monday, and should do so again today. Sound Transit ran the trains all night long to keep tracks/wires clear of ice. Expect large crowds on Link today, as people who may not always ride Link decide to try the train to avoid another hellish commute. If you do need to leave the Hill, and live at all near a station, Link is your best option.
There was a series of power outages on Beacon Hill last night, mostly in an area immediately around Jefferson Park. Service is back on to most now, but there are still small outages near 24th and Hanford and 33rd and Holly. You can see all current outages here.
Please dress warmly and take good care of yourself today, neighbors. Don’t drive unless you absolutely have to! We encourage you to visit one of our local coffee shops for a warm drink or three, and keep an eye on our Twitter feed throughout the day for additional info.
Here are some images from yesterday:
Jefferson Park. Photo by Joel Lee in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.This snow-laden tree looks rather like a giant spider. Photo by K. Shuler in the BHB photo pool.Beacon Hill Station in the snow and wind. Photo by Wendi.
It’s sticking on the street in the middle of the crosswalk (where the cars don’t drive) in front of the library at 6:30 this morning. So far, just little flakes, but coming down steadily. How are things in your part of the hill?
A Beacon Hill deck on December 22, 2008. Will it happen this year? Photo by K. Shuyler in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. The National Weather Service has issued a warning that “there is some risk of lowland snow… or mixed rain and snow showers over portions of Western Washington this weekend.” We all know that predicting snow in the Seattle area can be difficult, and for every Snowpocalypse there has also been a time when snow was predicted and it just never showed up. Still, the NWS made a good suggestion: “Now would be a good time to think about how you could prepare for the first possibility of winter weather conditions in the lowlands. Are your tires ready for snow covered roadways? Are your outdoor pipes and faucets winterized?”
