January 2012

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.

Residents are discouraged from all but essential travel to help keep roads open and safe for emergency vehicles, transit and snow removal. Streets may appear bare and wet but may be covered with ice, which will be difficult to see after dark. Ice accumulation could lead to snapped power lines and falling tree branches, a danger for both drivers and pedestrians.

Mary Schile, Ballard's Queen of Pie, is hosting her 10th annual Pie Buffet on Saturday, January 21, to raise funds for the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research at Swedish Hospital. 

As a member of the American Pie Council, Schile started the annual Pie Party as her birthday celebration because it coincides with Nation Pie Day. But when the guest lists outgrew her home she moved the event to Salmon Bay Eagles, of which she is a member.

"We turned it into a fundraiser when my friend Sara Bennett’s mother lost her 3 year battle with Ovarian Cancer," Schile said. "All in all, it’s a fundraising party with a vintage small town fair kind of vibe that people have a really good time at." 

In addition to a buffet of sweet and savory pies, the event will feature musical performances of pie-songs, raffle prizes, a guest speaker, and costumes.

"There are 10 PIE-rincesses this year, one of whom is a breast cancer survivor.  The girls wear cherry-print dresses and tiaras," said Schile.

Updated on Jan. 23 - more photos from the storm are trickling in!

Updated on Jan. 20 - added some great reader-submitted photos from Sharon Wheatley in Des Moines.

Highline Times editor Eric Mathison ventured out on Jan. 18 to capture some photos of a very wintry day in Burien.

If you have any photos to share please send them to tys@robinsonnews.com, include your name and the location of your photo so we can give you proper credit, and we will add them to the slideshow!

PLEASE CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE FOR MORE.

The City of Normandy Park has postponed the Joint City Council/Planning Commission meeting on the Manhattan Village Draft Integrated Subarea Plan/EIS scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 19th.

A new date and time for the meeting has not been determined at this time.

Cynthis Flash from Flash Media Services offers the Times/News a nice story about a good deed by Tukwila city staffers during this week’s snowstorm:

Kidney dialysis patients rely on their visits to the dialysis center every other day for dialysis treatment, which replaces their non-functioning kidneys to clean the body of toxins. It’s imperative that patients receive dialysis treatment three times a week to survive.

Unfortunately, this becomes complicated during snowstorms when roads become treacherous to travel. This was the case Wednesday morning when a Tukwila resident realized there was too much snow on his road (the dead end part of S. 150th Street east of 42nd Ave. S.) to get his girlfriend to her dialysis treatment at Northwest Kidney Centers SeaTac Kidney Center at 17900 International Blvd. S in SeaTac.

He sent an e-mail to the city of Tukwila at 10:04 a.m., asking if the city could plow and sand the difficult part of his road, from 42nd Ave. to Thorndyke Elementary

At a January 10 meeting of Seattle Greenway Organizers at the Beacon Hill Library, Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, chair of the newly formed Seattle City Council’s Parks and Neighborhoods, announced a set of pilot Neighborhood Greenways being planned by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) this coming year.

“Greenways connect parks and schools, community centers and neighborhood business districts. Neighborhood Greenways help with transportation, and they help with getting people where they want to go within their own communities," said Bagshaw in an announcement

Watch a YouTube video of Councilmember Bagshaw’s announcement,here.

Neighborhood Greenways are slow-speed, low-traffic residential streets near major arterials which provide a safe option for people to bike or walk.

By adding new park-like amenities and limiting cut-through traffic, Greenways are naturally attractive both for families, and for anyone seeking a safer, more connected community experience.

The city of Burien’s website is reporting that a fallen tree on Maplewild Ave. SW cut power Thursday morning to 338 customers in the Three Tree Point area and forced the closing of Maplewild from SW. 156th St.

Seattle City Light estimates that power will be restored by 1 pm.

Update at 7 p.m.
A large number of Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy customers in Tukwila, SeaTac, Burien and beyond are still dealing with power outages as a result of today's ice storm - mostly the result of fallen trees taking down power lines.

Please check the Seattle City Lights outage map (seen above, but please click the link for specific details on estimated restoration times.

Puget Sound Energy's Service Alert Page also provides data on outage locations.

Currently, PSE is reporting the following customer outages for our region:
Burien - 696
Normandy Park – 1448
Des Moines – 1286
SeaTac – 3176
Tukwila – 463

While no restoration estimates are guaranteed, Seattle City Light is showing restoration for several areas tonight into tomorrow.

From Puget Sound Energy:

Update for 4:52 p.m., Jan. 19
From King County
The King County Road Services Division reports road conditions continue to be challenging as snow and freezing rain continue to grip the region. This hazardous mix has resulted in the closure of more than 20 roads just in unincorporated areas of King County alone. (See the list below for a complete list of closures.)

A coating of ice on trees is further complicating our travel picture. Road crews report the weight of the ice on vegetation is causing trees and branches to snap and fall onto roadways. So motorists should be on the lookout for falling debris as well as ice on roads.

Residents are also being advised to check storm drains near their property to make sure they are not clogged with snow and ice. Doing so will ensure proper drainage when temperatures finally do warm up and the ice and snow begin to melt.

The Roads Division has an additional word of caution for residents. As tempting as it may be, icy neighborhood roads are no place for sledding. Serious injury can occur when sledders or vehicles lose control. Play it safe and keep winter fun away from roadways.

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning for Western Washington now extended to at least 2pm today. the storm shut down all runways at SeaTac this morning and workers managed to get one runway open for both arrivals and departures. Governor Christine Gregoire has issued a special weather proclamation (see below) to "ensure the delivery of dairy products" and allows the activation of the Washington State National Guard should they be needed.

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA

...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.

...ICE STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 2pm PST TODAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED AN ICE STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PST TODAY. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS...HOQUIAM...OLYMPIA...SEATTLE.