Snow Piling Up in Pacific Northwest
 

As snow slows, roads get dangerous in Pacific Northwest

By the CNN Wire Staff
Updated 7:18 AM EST, Thu January 19, 2012

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...-story-top.jpg http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/1px.gif
Seattle (CNN) -- Snow tapered off in parts of the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, a day after a storm made some normally busy streets in Seattle look more like ski runs. As the snowfall slowed Wednesday night, officials warned that falling temperatures are making roads icy and dangerous for drivers.

"We are seeing multiple spin-outs and collisions," the Washington State Department of Transportation reported on its website, advising drivers to slow down as road conditions worsened. The National Weather Service canceled a winter storm warning for the area Wednesday afternoon, but said a winter weather advisory remains in effect until midnight.

High-wind warnings were in effect along the coast, where winds could gust to hurricane force, knocking down trees and causing power outages, said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward. Wednesday's snowfall in Seattle may equal its annual average, Ward said.

CNN affiliate KOMO showed images of overturned vehicles and carports and awnings that collapsed under the weight of the snow. Precipitation moving in from the south and west is combining with cold air moving south from Canada to create the heavy snowfall, said Dustin Guy, a meteorologist at the weather service's Seattle office.

A record was broken at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as 6.8 inches of snow fell, the National Weather Service said. That shattered a 1954 record of 2.9 inches. While that amount of snow is no problem in places that receive snow regularly, heavy snowfall is relatively rare in Seattle, where steep hills can make winter travel treacherous.

"This city shuts down when winter hits. It's nuts. ... This city is just so unprepared for snow," Derek Stanek, 25, told CNN's iReport. Nevertheless, city officials maintained they were ready for the storm.

Deicing measures were in place on bridges and overpasses, emergency shelters were opened, schools were closed and some flights were canceled. Using a ruler outside his home near Tacoma, Washington, Joel Pederson measured 6 inches of snow Wednesday. And it was still coming down, Pederson told CNN's iReport. "We have not had this much snow since the 1980s," he said.

Official snow measurements for the day were not expected until sometime Thursday morning. But Washington's capital, Olympia, had already received 13 inches of snow by Wednesday afternoon: the third-highest 24-hour snowfall on record and the largest amount of snow that had fallen there since 1972, when 14.2 inches of snow fell in one day.

Up to 8 inches of snow was forecast for the metropolitan area.The town of Winlock, Washington, about 105 miles south of Seattle, had received 16 inches by late Wednesday morning, the weather service said. The town of Chehalis, about 18 miles north of Winlock, had 14 inches.

Mountainous areas of the Pacific Northwest will see even more snow, with the largest accumulations on the eastern slopes of the Cascades, according to the weather service. Significant snowfall is expected across southern Washington, northwest Oregon and into western Idaho. From late Tuesday through early Thursday, 2 feet to 3.5 feet of snow is forecast for the mountains east of Seattle. Mount Rainier could see 10 feet of snow by Friday.

Melting snow and heavy rains caused flooding problems in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon, authorities said.Floods contributed to a car accident in Albany, Oregon, Wednesday night, said Wanda Omdahl, spokeswoman for the Albany Fire Department. The car full of people drove into deep waters and was swept into a canal.

Rescuers could not find the car but were able to find an adult and a child, CNN affiliate KPTV reported. Several others, maybe three people, are still missing, the affiliate reported.