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MLK Monday Capitol Hill #seasnow | A commute for some, (more) snow day for others — UPDATES

After a Sunday of mostly fun and frolic on Capitol Hill, for some, the snow day continues with Monday’s MLK, Jr. holiday. For others, it’s back to work in a city that doesn’t handle snow all that well on a day when even more snowfall and freezing temperatures are predicted. Meanwhile, the region’s meteorologists are looking to what is expected to be a “potent” Tuesday storm that the National Weather Service predicts will “produce significant snowfall amounts on both the mountains and lowlands.” For now, the city is warning about the likelihood of iced roadways and recommends public transit if you do decide to travel. Metro will be on snow routing until further notice and will also be on reduced service for the holiday. Coverage of the day and some tips on getting around, below. Oh, and wear some sensible shoes. Capitol Hill sidewalks are a disaster. Go slow.


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  • MLK celebrations in the area are still happening — Here’s a list.
  • No worries on moving your car on Monday — the parking meters are turned off for the holiday.
  • What’s next for the weather? The latest forecast from the National Weather Service:

PRETTY CHALLENGING NEXT FEW DAYS FOR THE FORECAST OFFICE. RIGHT NOW    WSR-88D`S PICKING UP A BAND OF SNOW SHOWERS REACHING THE COAST ALONG    WITH SOME ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE INTERIOR. SATELLITE IMAGERY    SHOWS NEXT SHORTWAVE EMBEDDED IN THE NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT NEAR    130W. THIS FEATURE WILL MOVE OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON LATER THIS    MORNING INTO THIS AFTERNOON ENHANCING THE SHOWER ACTIVITY OVER THE    REGION. FOR THIS MORNING…OUTSIDE OF THE COAST JUST SOME ISOLATED    SHOWERS WITH THE UNSTABLE AIR MASS OVER THE AREA. 1000-850 MB    THICKNESS VALUES REMAINING IN THE 1280 METER RANGE ALL DAY…COLD    ENOUGH FOR ALL OF THE SHOWERS TO BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW. HEAVIEST    PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS ALONG THE COAST TODAY SO WILL ISSUE A WINTER    WEATHER ADVISORY FOR 1 TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW TODAY. FOR THE REMAINDER    OF THE AREA AMOUNTS OF AN INCH OR LESS LOOK TO BE THE NORM.    INITIALLY WITH THE NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT THE CENTRAL SOUND WILL    GET SNOW SHADOWED. THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME WEAK CONVERGENCE    DEVELOPING OVER THE CENTRAL SOUND LATER THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS    EVENING. THIS WILL BE THE BEST CHANCE FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW IN THE    CENTRAL SOUND. 

  • The Seattle Times says this means: “As much as 2 to 5 inches of snow could fall in the Seattle area over the remainder of this holiday weekend, followed by a possible sprinkling of 1 to 3 inches Tuesday night, the National Weather Service predicts.”
  • 520 is planned to be open today
  • Latest update from Metro:

Weather forecasters are predicting continued cold and snowy weather for the Monday holiday
and the work week. King County Metro Transit is remaining on snow routing countywide overnight
and into Monday. Bus riders are also reminded about the reduced weekday schedule on the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Holiday, Monday, Jan. 16.

Though weather and road conditions in the morning may not be bad in your area, delays and service
disruptions can occur in other parts of the county and could affect bus service in your area. Buses
will also be chained, which means they have to travel at slower speeds.

Before traveling, riders should check Metro’s Snow & Ice page for the most current status of Metro
service. Updates to the online information begin as early as 4:00 AM, and continue as needed until
travel conditions improve.

It is not possible to know when a bus will arrive at a specific location, or to provide service updates
about individual trips or stops.

Use regularly published timetables as a guide and check your bus’s snow route on its timetable map
page. Check Metro’s online snow page for route updates, be aware of conditions in your area and be
prepared for service delays or disruptions. Conditions and service impacts can change rapidly.

If your bus does not have a pre-planned snow route, it will operate its regular route, however service
may be delayed due to weather and road conditions. If a bus is unable to follow its pre-planned reroute, we will send a Transit Alert with an update.

Metro alerts for Capitol Hill area routes as of 6a (PDF):

  • Latest update from City Hall:

With temperatures below freezing and more winter weather in the forecast, Mayor Mike McGinn activated Seattle’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) this morning. The EOC will remain open as needed to monitor weather conditions and provide support and coordination with city departments.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has 18 trucks out to keep major arterial streets clear. Crews are mostly using granular salt. In spots where there is ice they are using liquid de-icer. Most major arterial streets are bare and wet, including the West Seattle Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but many side streets are icy. SDOT crews are currently focused on several trouble spots, including on Capitol Hill where Sunday’s snowfall was heavier.

Drivers should use caution if they must travel this morning. SDOT’s Winter Weather page at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/winterweather.htm includes maps of the City’s snow routes and real-time information on road conditions.

Most of the regional transit agencies are currently running on snow routes including King County Metro (http://www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow) and Sound Transit (http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Alerts/Winter-Weather.xml). Riders are encouraged to check bus status online as conditions change rapidly.

Many sidewalks are icy. Pedestrians should use caution while walking and crossing streets. It is the responsibility of property owners to keep their sidewalks clear of ice to protect pedestrian safety.

While some roads in Seattle may still be icy, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is advising customers to treat Monday as a normal day for garbage, recycling, and food/yard waste collection.  Collections to most business and apartments are also scheduled to occur today.

But customers should note that collections will be restricted in hilly locations. Most customers in the Magnolia neighborhood will not be serviced today.

  • If you are planning to drive, you can check out the latest de-icing and clearing work on the city’s new winter weather map. Here’s a screengrab as of 5:45a. Red routes have been recently plowed and salted. Click for latest updates.
  • The CHS Capitol Hill traffic cam page is here.
  • PDF maps of priority snow routes for the city are here.

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staci king
12 years ago

this is reliably the best source of information on many things, including up to date weather and road conditions from first hand reports. your site is the first one I checked this morning to determine how f*’ed my morning commute would be. so, thanks and happy MLK!

JimS.
12 years ago

All I can say is, if you’re planning to take Metro instead of driving, cross your fingers. I saw more stalled buses on Sunday than I did stuck cars. And don’t count on any of your smartphone programs to help….on “One Bus Away” my bus went from “NOW” to ” -11 minutes/departed 8 minutes early ” from one minute to the next. Sure enough, a glance in the other direction and there was the bus already passed– but stuck anyway. If you can, your best bet is walking!

NJ
NJ
12 years ago

Just an fyi, While I was waiting for a bus on 3rd and Union I noticed a #90 Snow Shuttle bus that was servicing Capitol Hill and First Hill stopping through downtown. That may be useful for those trying to bus up to the hills.

mr beeth
12 years ago

Metro doesn’t provide any accurate data to OneBusAway on snow routing. They also don’t give them holiday or reduced weekday schedules (MLJ day is reduced weekday). So what you are seeing is a normal Monday schedule with the radio point data from the current buses. If your bus is on a snow re-route, they won’t even have the radio point data correct. Metro is still years away from GPS tracking all the buses.

If you are mad that Metro doesn’t provide accurate schedule data in an open form to OneBusAway, Google or anyone else, complain to the head of metro- Kevin Desmond- [email protected] (I just Googled that, it’s a publicly available email addy). They could, but they don’t. Now that the UW student who made OBA works for Google in Switzerland, Metro is waiting for it to die and wants you to use trip planner and tracker instead on their website. Have you looked at those lately? Welcome back to the internet in 1997, because that is where Kevin Desmond wants it to be.

Again, you can’t use OneBusAway when it snows or on a Holiday. Please make note and thank Metro for that.

Hope that helps.

Stacy
Stacy
12 years ago

Heads up if you’re taking ST… They’re using Metro buses to run the550 route (maybe others too??) and to top it off, the first driver went by without updating his reader board saying “terminal” until after he pulled away from the stop! Bah!

TheGayAtheist
12 years ago

I have some good news for everyone!

If you ask other cities what they do, you might figure out that you can treat the streets and the sidewalks so they won’t be slippery and dangerous.

You can spray beet juice on the street before it snows (or ices) and the streets and sidewalks won’t be slippery. They also have salt and sand and other chemicals.

What I saw on Capital Hill on Sunday was so funny and SO unnecessary.

This is 2012, not 1912.

The only other time I saw so much stupidity and so little snow was the time I was in San Antonio, Texas when it snowed half an inch. HA!

Cat Lady
12 years ago

JimS & mr beeth – thank you both for this info. I live on the hill, don’t have a car, and therefore take metro to/from work. I’ve been noticing lately that OBA seems to be getting crappier and crappier, and now I think I know why. I had heard that the guy who invented it was leaving Seattle, but I didn’t know it had already happened. It’s especially bad with the 8 bus. Seriously, I will be standing at the bus stop and OBA will say the bus is supposed to be there in 3 mins. 5 mins later it says the bus departed on time, even though there hasn’t been a bus. It’s really frustrating.

Anyway, guess I will start looking for a magical snow pony who can get me where I need to go.

AnotherGayAtheist
12 years ago

One might say the “stupid” in this situation are people with comments like yours that have no clue that there is a reason Seattle is under-prepared for these events. They aren’t stupid- they know what should be done- it’s simply not in the budget because it has not happened often enough in the past. Would you like to pay more taxes to help establish a backup “snowy day fund” so that we can salt & plow more streets? They’re already doing a better job since the event in ’08. If snowy Seattle is the new norm, then yes, we need to figure out how to budget for it. But right now that budget doesn’t exist so quit making an ass of yourself.

violagirl
12 years ago

That thing looks over 4 ft tall. Did they get a city permit to build it?!