West Seattle, Washington
22 Sunday
Thanks to Troy for sharing that photo of tonight’s sunset via Facebook (where you’ll find us as WS Blog). It’s a view of West Seattle from the downtown waterfront, near Colman Dock ferry terminal and Ivar’s, which of course has a WS tie too, since founder Ivar Haglund was a West Seattleite. Speaking of sunsets, we swapped out the WSB header photo for the first time in more than a year – after featuring that photo recently, someone suggested doing that, so we’re giving it a whirl.
The latest National Weather Service forecast really does suggest we might see some snow next Tuesday. Cliff Mass‘s latest update (from Friday) foresees a “wintry mix.”
From David Hutchinson, taken during a walk around Alki Point. Shortly before that arrived in our inbox, we had heard that today’s high temperature tied a record … 63. Almost spring-like. Another sunset view, sent as-it-happened from Scott B:
Tomorrow’s supposed to be closer to “normal.”
Just back from City Hall, where we tried our best to represent Seattle’s growing online-neighborhood-news industry on a City Council panel discussion (not archived on SeattleChannel.org yet but should be soon), and there’s more post-storm council action to relay: Tomorrow at 2 pm, the Energy and Technology Committee will focus on this aspect of snowstorm response past and future:
Winter Storm Response — Discussion of City Light’s participation in the winter storm response and purchase of snowplow equipment for mounting on existing Seattle City Light trucks. It is in the interest of public safety to improve the City’s ability to clear city streets of snow so that City Light vehicles, fire apparatus, emergency medical units, police cars, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles are able to navigate city streets.
Here’s the full agenda; some interesting technology items too, led by the city’s tech boss Bill Schrier (a West Seattleite). Meantime, Seattle Channel sends an alert that three councilmembers can be seen criticizing the city’s response to last month’s Snowmare during a show that’s available online now or premiering on Cable Channel 21 tonight at 7.
(looking toward the SW Thistle stairs to Lincoln Park, west of California SW)
At least up here, and at least it waited till the commute was mostly over. SDOT sent a short blurb to assure you they’re on patrol:
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has trucks standing by at various locations around the city including the West Seattle Bridge and the tops of hills, in case they are needed. Last night crews applied deicer to the high level West Seattle Bridge, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and the Aurora Bridge.
Is it snowing where you are? 9:10 AM UPDATE: Via Facebook (where you can “friend” us as WS Blog), Becky reports that she’s seen one of those city trucks standing by at Westwood Village. While the ground is lightly covered up here at “higher elevations,” the road’s still bare/wet. Forecasters continue to all-but-promise it will turn to rain within a few hours. Here’s the bridge cam (refresh the page for the latest image; you can also see it any time on the WSB Traffic page):
9:45 AM UPDATE: We’re out driving around. Not much at all on the ground/roofs down at sea level, through Morgan Junction and Fairmount Springs. The “snow” itself is more like sleet. 11:33 AM UPDATE: En route back from downtown and it’s rain now … we can definitely declare fleeting snow panic over!
So says the latest forecast. Famous forecaster Cliff Mass is a little more vague.
(video added 11:09 pm)
Flakes are falling. The forecast called for flurries, as mentioned earlier, so it’s not SUPPOSED to amount to much … 11:13 PM UPDATE: Uh-oh, famous forecaster Cliff Mass has published an update on his website suggesting it MIGHT be a bit more. 1:10 AM UPDATE: Seems a little more serious than flurries out there. Car tops are white. Hmm.
Just in from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which explains, “The stagnant weather pattern of this past week is finally eroding, bringing improved mixing and dispersion of the fine particle pollution – and ultimately, cleaner, healthier air.” You can track the air status at their site any time, pscleanair.org.
That photo of tonight’s sunset, from Anchor (Luna) Park, is courtesy of MarkB (who also shared video, photo, info from last night’s WSHS concert). As the weekend begins in earnest, a few weather notes: The latest forecast does have the s(now)-word in a few spots – maybe flurries tomorrow night, maybe “rain possibly beginning as snow” on Tuesday. But till something scours out the “stagnant” air, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency wants to remind you the Stage 2 Burn Ban remains in effect – no wood-burning fireplaces or stoves unless it’s your “only adequate source of heat.”
We’ve been updating you on the city’s work to repaint stripes worn off local streets/bridges during last month’s snow, and to clean up leftover sand – here’s the latest update from SDOT:Read More
(added 1:48 am: the sweeper that’s been patroling our corner for 1 hr+, though we have no bike lanes)
Funny thing, someone just brought up the continuing street-sand troubles at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting we’re covering right now – at the exact moment we checked our e-mail, and found this:
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is devoting additional resources to cleaning bike lanes starting tonight. Mechanical street cleaners and crews with hand sweepers will clear bike routes throughout the city.
The department has nearly completed its initial sweeping of sand from 1,531 lane miles of Seattle’s main streets and will continue its cleaning work with additional runs along the same major streets and will focus aggressively over the next several days on bike lanes.
SDOT deployed ten sweepers to clean up more quickly from the storms of December and early January, nearly double the normal number used. SDOT staff will be inspecting roadways throughout the city this evening to assess where additional emphasis is needed.
If citizens have concerns about streets still requiring sand removal or where additional sweeping would be beneficial, they can call SDOT at (206) 684-ROAD. The public is asked to heed “No Parking” signs placed to support sweeping. By doing so, they allow sweeping crews to clean as close to the curb as possible, removing the bulk of the sand on the roadway.
In particular, tonight’s concerned citizen was worried about conditions on 16th SW. If you don’t see cleaning on a street you’re concerned about – do call that hotline number. WEDNESDAY 12:46 AM UPDATE: Big loud street sweeper just swept through our nearest arterial-meets-arterial intersection in Upper Fauntleroy.
As of noon, the burn ban is up to Stage 2 – meaning your wood-burning fireplace/stove can’t be used unless it’s your ONLY “adequate source of heat.” Full details here.
(photo added 11:11 pm – car top is ALREADY iced over!)
Patchy fog’s a possibility again tonight. Combine that with lows in the 30s, and by 5 am this morning, car tops and windshields were iced over – as were some bridge on-ramps, according to a Twitter report we received – so if you don’t get MLK Day off, save a few minutes tomorrow for possible scraping. And a reminder that your fireplace/wood stove is off-limits TFN unless it’s your main source of heat, since a “Stage 1 Burn Ban” is in effect. The “stagnant air” might not clear out any time soon – the “forecast discussion” says it might be dry all week.
(WSB photo from December 14)
When we published first word of the mayor’s plan for three “open houses” to personally field citizen concerns about the trials and tribulations of Snowstorm ’08, JenV commented, “I foresee a packed house in WS.” If that happens tonight (6:30-8 pm at Southwest Community Center; here’s a map), it’ll be the only one of the three. According to this Seattle Weekly item about the Tuesday event in Green Lake, and this Central District News report on last night’s event in the CD, very few people have shown up to tell the mayor — and a massive retinue of city workers — what they think, and/or to hear what he says. Are YOU going?
(12/18/08 photo by Raymond Overgaard)
Quick notes from this morning’s Seattle City Council briefing on snowstorm response, third one in one week (our coverage of the previous two: Monday 1/5 and Tuesday 1/6). Today, councilmembers heard from – and questioned – city Emergency Management director Barb Graff. Here’s what it all came down to: Who really had a handle on the big picture, the fact that the roads were in bad shape, buses weren’t running because of that, and more reinforcements needed to be called in? Read on for what was said, who said it, and what next:Read More
Both councils are tackling Snowstorm ’08 followups this morning (in addition to other agenda items), and both meetings have now begun, live online and on cable TV – the Seattle City Council, seattlechannel.org or cable 21; King County Council, kingcounty.gov or cable 22. We’re monitoring both and will post here if anything major is revealed/announced, with wrapups later. City councilmembers, by the way, have a big meeting later today too, announcing their collective and individual priorities for 2009 at 2 pm, with public comment to follow.
(one of many photos we received during Snowstorm ’08)
The Seattle City Council has another post-snowstorm discussion coming up next Monday morning, after more than five hours of briefings this past Monday and Tuesday. Since snow-related trouble hit West Seattle particularly hard, from missing buses to missed trash pickups, it’s not surprising that some of the toughest questions at those briefings came from WS-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. Before memories of those first two briefings faded too far away, we e-mailed to ask him about any reflections on what he heard – read on to see what he sent back:Read More
(photo added 11:36 am – the car in the background is traveling NB on Fauntleroy)
ORIGINAL 11:24 AM POST: If you’ve heard this one somewhere else: A tree fell on 39th at Fauntleroy in the Fairmount Springs area. IT IS NOT BLOCKING FAUNTLEROY. It is briefly blocking the triangle area on the side where drivers get to Fauntleroy, northbound, from 39th, and it’s being cut up as we speak.
ADDED 11:43 AM: A reason to keep close watch on the trees around your home/apartment:
Hutch sent photos of the lilac that “decided to give it up” after Sunday’s heavy, wet snow, plus the past few days’ rain (and maybe the wind, too) … good reminder that there may be more than a few trees/large shrubs in weakened condition around the area.
Five seconds of video is all we could shoot before the light turned and we had to go through that BIG puddle – deeper than it looks (it always is) – at West Marginal and Highland Park Way (map). Deep water in all directions right there, in fact. Not the only early-morning trouble spot, either – an even more treacherous stretch of water swamped the street about half a mile north, across West Marginal. So until and unless you hear it’s OK in the am, we’d say “steer clear.” Meantime, as of this moment, the wind is suddenly rocking WSB HQ stronger than at any point last night. Sure hope the “calming down by tonight” forecast turns out to be right. (To see what’s up with road trouble in the rest of King County, check here; for stream-flow info in various areas [not WS], go here; for the WSB Traffic page, with cameras and “latest incidents” links, go here.)
Starting a new post for any developments overnight – in comments after our previous post, AlkiRD just reported that West Marginal Way has a foot of floodwater near Highland Park Way (map); Flipjack called attention to the fact the National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for areas including Seattle metro; and Karen says Longfellow Creek is running high. We just went over to check on the Longfellow section that flooded during the December 2007 rainfest (near Allstar) — no obvious trouble yet. 10:59 PM UPDATE: Mac also just e-mailed about the West Marginal water – he says it’s up to the curb and drivers are trying to get through but shouldn’t, as you’ll see in the text of tonight’s flood warning:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A
* FLOOD WARNING FOR URBAN AREAS AND SMALL STREAMS IN THE FOLLOWING WESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTIES… KITSAP COUNTY… WESTERN KING COUNTY… SOUTHWESTERN SNOHOMISH COUNTY…
* UNTIL 830 AM PST THURSDAY.
* AT 834 PM PST RADAT AND OBSERVATIONS SHOW PRECIPITATION FALLING AT NEARLY ONE HALF INCH PER HOUR. HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH ABOUT 4 AM EARLY THURSDAY BEFORE DECREASING TO SHOWERS.
FLOODING IS EXPECTED IN NORMALLY LOW AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS…POORLY DRAINED UNDERPASSES…AND ALONG SMALL STREAMS.
A FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR HAS BEEN REPORTED.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE ELEVATED LEVELS ON SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS…AND PONDING OF WATER IN URBAN AREAS… HIGHWAYS…STREETS AND UNDERPASSES AS WELL AS OTHER POOR DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS.
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
More as we get it. Let us know if there’s trouble where you are – editor@wsb.blackfin.biz – thanks!
Caught the classic blustery-day-in-West-Seattle scene at Constellation Park about an hour ago — when high tide meets semi-high wind, the seawall show begins south of Alki Point. (High tide today was around noon.) Also while roaming around to check for any sign of West Seattle storm woes, happened onto a sight that some Fauntleroy and Westwood drivers – among others – will be happy to see:
Along Barton, west of 35th, contractors are picking up some of those huge steel plates that have been (bumpily) covering the street cuts from the gas-line-replacement work, and filling the holes beneath. Traffic is down to one lane controlled by multiple flaggers, so it’s slow going through there while this is under way. (Puget Sound Energy told us in November the work would be done by year’s end, but we’ll spot them a weather delay.)
Here’s the latest official release from Seattle Public Utilities – please note the number to call if you DO have a problem. Latest forecast says that while the city’s been in a bit of a “rain shadow” for some hours this morning, heavier rain is expected again soon.
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) flood crews remain on standby waiting for the rains and high waters that have so far missed the city, but which could yet arrive.
“Even though we have not yet received the anticipated rain our crews are ready to respond if necessary,” said Nick Pealy, deputy director, Field Operations and Maintenance.
SPU crews have cleared inlets of debris at locations where there have been past ponding and flooding calls during recent weather events. Crews have inspected and removed debris as needed from culverts, trash racks, overflows and weirs.
Sand & sandbags are still stockpiled at 3 locations for citizens and crew to fill as necessary:
— Meadowbrook Pond (N. entrance).
— South Park (7th Avenue S. dead end).
— Sand Point Way & NE 95th.SPU is urging customers to make sure storm drains on their street and neighborhood are clear of debris and to call or report any flooding immediately.
To report flooding or blocked drains, please call (206) 386-1800.
We’re heading out shortly to survey for wind/water-related trouble – seen any? Also: If you have a road trip planned anywhere around the state – WSDOT is monitoring multiple trouble spots – the major mountain passes are all currently closed, and a new state update includes this warning: “Major rivers in Washington are rapidly rising including rivers adjacent to Interstate 5 in Lewis county. Forecasts indicate that portions of Interstate 5 could be underwater as early as this afternoon.”
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