Some time ago we had one of the largest snow events we ever had around here. In 1903 or something it snowed three feet in Seattle and everyone moved to Oklahoma City. So us “new” people have never seen this much snow.
It snowed one night; then that day; that night; the next day; and so on for a week. We thought it wouldn’t end. If you live in relatively flat country and/or warm country it may be difficult to imagine how bad it can get here.
We have hills that are hard to deal with on a dry day. In rain they get real hard and in snow they are impossible. Getting up these hills requires four wheels and a shovel. Getting down is harder because breaks tend to work pretty good so your car suddenly becomes a sled. Only the real seasoned snow drivers know how to down shift and drag their feet. Seattle has very few of these pros. So we see piles of cars at the bottoms of all the hills.
Part of the problem is the rarity of “snow events.” We don’t have a fleet of big snow plows and millions of pounds on salt. In fact we usually don’t use salt at all. So when our three sanding trucks took off during the first snow to throw sand out the windows it was sort of comical.
But by the time the third snow came by we had thick ice on many roads. That’s because the de-icer we normally use doesn’t work and each time somebody manages to drive on the snow it just packs it into ice.
Jeff, our crack weather person (we have others but Jeff gets his picture in the paper beside the weather report every day) did his best to let us know what was going on, but he doesn’t drive a snow plow.
In fact hardly anyone drives a snowplow. So the greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area came to a standstill. Christmas shopping consisted of Amazon gift certificates if you had electricity and internet. This caused a recession and Barry (our new pres) promises to fix everything if the Democrats will let him.
But we coped.
Then it warmed up and started to rain. Hoo boy, did it rain. For some reason everyone was upset about all the rain but they didn’t stop to consider how bad it would have been as snow. We’d all have to move to Oklahoma City again. At least they have professional basketball. Ours!
Mostly the rain stayed north, south, and east of the metropolitan area. We managed to get a lot of the effects as several rivers wash into Lake Washington and Puget Sound. The people farther out got real wet.
The Elliott Bridge ($18 million bridge across the Cedar River east of Renton) area was well flooded. Ron Regis Park was closed due to high water. The bike underpass was flooded.
The Maple Valley Highway was closed. Really. How will we get dirt? Worse, how will the garbage get to the land fill? This is a National Crisis. Since the snow prevented garbage delivery there is pent up demand. Lots of New Year’s celebration glassware (empties) was piled up. Oh, yeah, that goes to the recycle center. Only real trash goes to Maple Valley. But there was lots of it.
So closing the Maple Valley Highway is a true crisis.
The heavy rainfall and snow melt drove all our rivers out of their nice quiet beds and over lots of roads. We were cut off from the rest of America except for air. All the passes were closed and so were the major freeways. But most of the alternate routes were also closed. Several of our rural areas were islands. The bears are in hibernation, but the cougars are up there skulking around like wet cats looking for food.
Today, Washdot sent me a note bragging about getting some of the big roads open. Here it is:
Dear Al,
I-5 and I-90 now open to traffic
It was a busy morning for us today. According to the last update, 90 sections of state highway have reopened. There are 34 sections still closed and 14 restricted. The amount of roads closing is changing constantly, so I would recommend looking at our county-by-county update site to see if a road is open or closed.
We are happy to report that I-5 in Lewis county is now open to all traffic. Quickly receding flood waters on I-5 in Chehalis resulted in fewer problems than anticipated. We were able to access the freeway and perform necessary safety inspections of the interstate and levee system and begin clean up work. Some exit and on ramps remain closed within the 20 mile section.
I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass is also now open to traffic. After working around the clock to clear snow, water, and debris from the roadway and shoulders, we opened the eastbound lanes of I-90 Snoqualmie Pass between North Bend and Ellensburg this morning at 9 a.m. We opened the Westbound lanes around noon. There are still restrictions on three I-90 exit ramps. Exit 45 will remain closed due to water over the roadway. Exits 53 and 54 will have ramp lane restrictions to keep traffic out of the high water. Due to erosion and some undermining of the shoulders, there will be no stopping or parking allowed on the shoulders of I-90 between North Bend and Easton.
WSDOT estimates the economic impact of the I-5 closure through Lewis count is $12 million per day and I-090 is $6 million per day. A summary of this information is online.
As of noon today here are the road closures remaining in King County:
SR 202 - Closed from SR 203 to 356th Avenue SE in Fall City. A 90-foot-long section of SR 202 east of the roundabout at SR 203 was completed washed out and requires reconstruction before the road will reopen. There are alternate routes into Fall City. Work might take several days.
SR 202 - Open in North Bend from the northern city limits of Snoqualmie to North Bend Boulevard.
SR 203 between Fall City and Monroe - SR 203 has reopened from Fall City to Duvall. The road remains closed Duvall and Monroe.
SR 410 - Closed in both directions from Greenwater to Enumclaw due to water over the roadway. (Milepost 29.7-57)
I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass has reopened in both directions. Eastbound opened at 9 a.m. Westbound opened at noon.
Apparently they feel I need to know all this.
Well, hope your winter is going better than ours. We like to export as much weather as we can so much of the country gets the same systems as they move to the east. But we do our best to remove moisture.
Now winter will turn benign and we’ll have our normal gloomy drizzle until Memorial Day. I hope. Looks like I need to plan some trips.
Al
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