WESTERN WASHINGTON – Freezing rain in parts of Western Washington shut down all but one runway at Sea-Tac Airport, shut down public transit, closed roads and freeways and cut power to thousands amid icy conditions.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said all drivers Non-essential travel should be delayed Because of icy conditions across the region. Officials said there were too many collisions and spinouts to report.
>>Photos: Icy conditions on Puget Sound area roads
>>Download the KIRO 7 Weather app for updates
“Our crews are still working on the roads but we suggest holding off until weather conditions improve,” WSDOT said.
The good news is that temperatures are slowly warming, according to KIRO 7 Meteorologist Nick Allard.
Live Updates:
Afternoon: .40″ in Silverdale, .30″ in SeaTac, .30″ in Issaquah, .25″ in University Place and .25″ in Olympia.
11:44 am According to WSDOT Tacoma, US Route 101 is closed in both directions near Hamma Hamma Rec Area Road due to trees down on the road.
11:24 am WSDOT continues to recommend it Drivers delay all non-essential journeys.
11:24 am Sea-Tac Airport said crews were continuing to clear one runway and adjacent taxiways. “We will work on more runways as the weather warms and improves. Please check with the airlines!”
11:02 am US 2 is completely closed between Gold Bar and Index due to downed trees. Eastbound SR 18 is also closed at Issaquah-Hobart Road SE due to collisions and spinouts.
10:40 am Snohomish PUD said crews are encountering multiple power poles and trees on the ground in Gold Bar.
10:38 am Due to ongoing icy conditions, the I-5 express lanes in Seattle will be closed southbound through Saturday afternoon.
10:20 am Puget Sound Energy reported 13,562 customers were without power. Snohomish PUD has 5,554 and Seattle City Light has 353. There are also outages in the San Juan Islands and Grays Harbor and Clallam counties.
10:07 am The Seattle Fire Department said crews were responding to a large number of calls across the city about slips and falls on ice on sidewalks, roadways and parking lots, and advised people to stay inside if possible.
10 am All Metro Transit service, including buses, water taxis, on-demand and the Seattle Streetcar, has been suspended due to the icy conditions. Next update will be at 2 PM
9:40 am Sound Transit Link trains now run every ten minutes.
9:35 am Eastbound SR 18 is closed at Issaquah-Hobart Road Southeast due to multiple collisions, spinouts and a jackknifed semi. WSDOT said the closure is expected to last several hours.
9:15 am Seattle Public Utilities has eliminated residential garbage, recycling and food waste collection. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday customers can leave twice the following week at no extra charge.
9:07 am Seattle Center Monorail service has been suspended.
8:58 am The Washington State Department of Transportation said drivers should continue to delay all non-essential travel due to freezing rain still falling and icy conditions on wide areas of roads.
8:29 am The Lower Spokane Street Bridge in Seattle has reopened.
8:28 am “Line 1 of Sound Transit is running with minor delays but it’s a skating rink getting to/from the stations! Keep unless absolutely necessary until things start to thaw. “
8:08 am All Kitsap Transit service has been canceled.
7:58 am WSDOT’s Snoqualmie Pass Twitter account said drivers planning to cross I-90 should delay their travels if possible. East of the summit there is drifting snow and poor visibility. Freezing rain on the west side of the peak. There is heavy snow on the summit.
7:47 am US 2 is closed between Gold Bar and Index due to downed trees, freezing rain and icy conditions.
7:30 am Most facilities in King County will be closed Friday due to weather conditions. They will reopen on Tuesday, December 27.
7 am All Metro Transit service, including buses, water taxis, on-demand and the Seattle Streetcar, has been suspended due to the icy conditions. Next update at 10 am
6:57 am A runway at Sea-Tac Airport has reopened after it disintegrated. Operations will continue to be limited depending on weather conditions.
6:52 am Freezing rain and high winds caused power outages in eastern parts of Snohomish County. Outage Map: OutageMap.SnoPUD.com. About 5,400 customers are without power.
6:41 am I-90 between I-405 and SR 18 was reopened.
6:40 am Pierce Transit service is delayed until 10 p.m
6:24 am All community transit service to Seattle and local service within Snohomish County has been suspended due to dangerous roads.
6:23 am The Washington State Department of Transportation said all drivers Non-essential travel should be delayed Because of icy conditions across the region.
6 am The Lower Spokane Street Bridge is closed due to the crash and icy conditions.
5:56 am All Alaska and Horizon departures from Seattle and Portland have been canceled until noon due to icy runway conditions.
5:35 am All public transit service to Seattle has been suspended due to dangerous roads. Local service will continue in Snohomish County. The Zip Shuttle is suspended until noon. Find details at this link.
5:30 am Washington State Ferries said service was suspended on the Seattle-Bremerton route and the Port Townsend-Coupeville route. There is one-boat service on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth, Seattle-Bainbridge, Edmonds-Kingston and Mukilteo-Clinton routes.
5:30 am The start of Pierce Transit service is now delayed to 7 a.m. When routes do open, they will be on snow routes.
5:21 am All Pierce Transit lines are on 2-hour delays. Once the service starts, they will be on the way to the snow.
5:10 am Sea-Tac Airport said all runways were closed indefinitely as crews continued to deice surfaces.
4:20 am King County Metro has canceled all bus service due to the ice. Metro said its next update will be at 7 am
“Metro buses are unable to leave bus bases due to bad and unsafe road conditions. We regret the impact on our riders. “We will add service as soon as it is safe for customers and employees,” Metro said.
3:35 am All lanes of Interstate 90 between I-405 and SR 18 were closed due to icy road conditions, which led to multiple collisions and spin outs. Troopers advise people to stay home if possible.
2 hours Runways at Sea-Tac Airport were closed after the airfield received a dump of freezing rain that quickly solidified into ice. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled.
forecast
Temperatures are slowly warming into the 20s, 30s and 40s this afternoon.
We had rain and light freezing rain over much of Whatcom County with a few pockets of heavy freezing rain.
KIRO 7 Meteorologist Nick Allard said he has seen reports of around .25 to .40″ of snow across the region.
Light patchy rain will continue for the remainder of the day with temperatures warming into the mid to upper 30s. The temperature is not quite high enough for a large temperature, but some ice melts. However, it can take all day for Whatcom County to warm up enough to come out of the freezing rain, and the same goes for the Cascades.
Snow and freezing rain will increase through the passes Friday afternoon and are likely to have significant impacts there through Friday night. A half inch of snow is possible at Snoqualmie Pass by Saturday morning, causing major travel disruption.
12p: Freezing in Tacoma, at Olympia. That doesn’t matter immediately when it comes to the ubiquitous ice. It takes many hours at above freezing temperatures to make any difference. Untreated roads/pavements are very bad today till Sat. #wax pic.twitter.com/DYqaPoRwxe
— Morgan Palmer (@MorganKIRO7) December 23, 2022
East of the Cascades, some light icing will be possible late Friday and Friday night, but then snow and freezing rain will increase Saturday into Christmas Day.
Over the weekend, some freezing rain and snow is likely to pass east of Saturday and into Christmas Day, west of the Cascades, when we’ll have heavy rain at times.
This rainfall can cause urban flooding from blocked storm drains and eventually river flooding. This threat of flooding from a sudden warm and very wet weather pattern – with several atmospheric rivers possible – will continue into next week.
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