Snowstorm made for a beautiful mess

Depending on where you were, yesterday's swirling snow was a cause for either teeth-gnashing or celebration. Kids home from school flew through the air on makeshift sleds, workers spun doughnuts in office parking lots and police struggled to keep up with an all-day stream of accidents and road closures.

Four-plus inches in Seattle was hardly a record-breaker, but it was more snow than anybody around here had seen in seven years.


		Dan DeLong / P-I
	Under heavy snowfall, Paul Milan cross country skis on a footbridge spanning Lake Washington Boulevard in Montlake yesterday. Milan skied from his home on Capitol Hill. More than 4 inches of snow fell on Seattle.

Scores of commuters, taking the safe way out, opted to stay overnight in downtown hotels rather than drive home on roads that grew icier with each passing hour.

"You know how this city gets with its hills," said Francis Crowley, front office manager at the Hotel Monaco. "People don't want to risk driving on those to get home."

No one could fault them for their caution.

Around 4:30 p.m., an articulated Metro Transit bus blew a chain and jackknifed coming off the West Seattle bridge. Westbound traffic was stalled for more than an hour because of the accident, one of hundreds around the area. There were no reports of serious injuries or deaths.

State emergency management officials had been preparing for accidents since early morning. At Camp Murray, they called in the National Guard and were operating at a state of alert higher than that imposed Dec. 21 to avert possible terrorist attacks.

Meteorologists said that, judging from past weather patterns, Seattle appeared due for a significant snow about once every four years.

Around the region, weather-watchers reported snowfalls from 2 inches in coastal areas to more than 8 inches in Olympia. Eleven inches fell in Hoodsport in Jefferson County.


		Mike Urban / P-I
	English shepherd Logan hones his herding skills by chasing Dylan Motroni, 12, down a sledding hill at Vashon's Ober Park.

Stevens Pass was braced for 16 inches last night, adding to an already-stellar season for skiers and snowboarders, said Alison Jefferies, executive director of marketing for Harbor Resorts.

"The roads are actually better at Stevens than they are in downtown Seattle right now," she said.

Indeed they were.

At ET Towing, which has offices around the city, owner Shayan Rezaei was disappointing callers by the dozen.

"Are you kidding? We can't even get to them," he said. "I've got one guy calling me, stuck on a city hill, and he's tried 30 different places. None of us can get to him. Even if you have chains, a tow truck's going to get stuck on solid ice."

For many, however, the snows were a cause for celebration.

By 10 a.m., Queen Anne Hill was a makeshift ski slope, its main drag closed to cars and the usual morning bustle replaced by crowds bundled in winter gear. A cross-country skier topped the hill at West Lee, shot a smile to passers-by and kept gliding toward the 5-Spot Cafe, as a snow mobiler tore up the avenue, dodging pedestrians.

Twelve-year-old Riley Goodwin and his pals -- taking advantage of a day's respite from school -- molded piles of snow into a ramp below Valley Street. Four of the boys lay down on the ground like sardines as Riley hurtled down the hill toward them on his blue plastic disk, aiming for air, Evel Knievel-style. Pedestrians gawked, some aiming cameras, as Goodwin sped toward certain triumph -- or disaster.

He hit the ramp, catapulted into the air and cleared all four buddies, pulling off the stunt to a barrage of cheers.

"It's a lot funnerthan writing an essay in school," the McClure Middle Schooler said.

Police, fearing conditions were just too dangerous, eventually shut down the section of Queen Anne Avenue North that runs the 400 feet or so from the top to bottom of Queen Anne and by evening were threatening any sledder with arrest.

State and local emergency workers, meanwhile, kept an eye on potential flooding problems should a rapid melt come after the heavy snows, though Brent Bower, a hydrologist at the national Weather Service, said the risk for major river overflows was minor.

The true mess will likely come later this week, he said, with urban flooding starting once the snows begin to melt, flowed by rains expected through Friday.

"It'll be slush and blocked drainage gutters, so it'll be mainly an inconvenience for driving and walking," Bower said.

The Weather Service issued a flood watch for tomorrow night through Saturday for rivers in six Western Washington counties: Lewis, Thurston, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Clallam and Mason.

Downtown Bremerton resembled a ghost town, with City Hall closed by noon and the streets quiet but for the sound of an occasional plaintive ferry horn.

But the weather was fortuitous for bartender Tammie Seyfriend, who'd anticipated serving mostly regulars at the Drift Inn but got an unexpected rush of customers when the shipyard across the street closed early.

"What I made in two hours is what last night's bartender made in eight hours," she said.

For thousands of students around the region the snow provided a welcomed winter vacation-extension. The University of Washington also shut down for the day. But not all schools closed their doors.

In King County, the tiny Skykomish School District opened its one building for the 70 students enrolled in grades K-12. In northern Snohomish County, the Arlington, Darrington and Stanwood-Camano districts opened schools, as did the Mount Vernon School District across the line in Skagit County.

"When our buses were rolling, our pavements were clear, and it was a tough call to close just on speculation," said Arlington's assistant superintendent Rob Pattermann. "At the time, we certainly felt it was the best decision," he said. "Hindsight is always 20-20."


		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	Good samaritans come to the rescue of a driver trying to climb the low grade to enter I-5 at Mercer Street.

Many drivers, loathe to stop on Seattle's hills, trundled through red lights. But not all snow-lovers had happy experiences.

Harborview Medical Center reported several sledding accidents, including one in which the victim was knocked unconscious.

And a middle-aged man had to be rescued from Lake Tapps after his six-wheel, all-terrain vehicle fell through a soft spot in the lake 100 yards off shore. A neighbor passing by spied the accident and called for help, while the man, who police have not named, clung to his vehicle, waiting and floating.

John McDonald, assistant chief of East Pierce County Fire and Rescue, said workers pushed an inflatable boat onto the ice toward the man, who was uninjured, then pulled his ATV back onto the ice and allowed him to drive it back to shore.

"We didn't want him or someone else going after the ATV after we left," said McDonald. "It's a several-thousand dollar piece of equipment."

The snow had Tim Gould coming up with his own form of creative transportation. An air pollution researcher, Gould donned snowshoes to get to his job, clomping along Northeast 45th Street in floppy red contraptions that looked like clown feet.

"We could stand another couple of inches of snow to make it better going in these," he said. "But if it keeps snowing and doesn't turn to rain, I'm set for getting home."

Gould was onto something. All over the city, roads were closed to vehicular traffic, blocked with "Do Not Enter" signs that many motorists ignored.

On the Sammamish Plateau, long a challenge for storm-besieged residents hoping to come and go, road crews kept traffic running smoothly.

"This is one of the reasons why we incorporated five years ago -- so we could do stuff like this," said city spokesman Tim Larsen. "Our maintenance people actually got a round of applause last night at a neighborhood-association meeting."

Despite driving delays and skeletal staffs, business soldiered on.

During the morning commute along Interstate 5, people drove slowly, struggling to maintain orderly lanes in blowing snow that approached white-out conditions. Buses inched along.

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, airlines reported a few cancellations and delays -- causing waits of several hours for some.

King County officials said Metro Transit would operate as close to regular routes as possible, though buses would drive only sanded streets and arterials, and likely not on hills or icy side streets.

For thousands of newcomer Seattleites, the winter blizzard was a shock. Many had moved into the city during the last few years, believing that it would never snow so hard. Caught unprepared, they besieged hardware stores for anything that might slide down a hillside.

"We sold out within an hour of opening this morning," said Kelly La Freniere at the True Value hardware store on Queen Anne. "We had about 40 sleds, snow tubes and other stuff, but now we're just trying to get creative, selling people garbage can lids, tarps -- people just want anything they can slide on."

WILL THERE BE SCHOOL TODAY?

For information about canceled or delayed classes, go to www.schoolreport.org In Seattle, check www.seattleschools.org or call 206-252-0207. Also check morning radio and television broadcasts.For information about canceled or delayed classes, go to www.schoolreport.org In Seattle, check www.seattleschools.org or call 206-252-0207. Also check morning radio and television broadcasts.

P-I reporters Sam Skolnik, Lisa Stiffler, Mike Barber, Jane Hadley, Gordy Holt, Jennifer Langston, Lewis Kamb, Gregory Roberts, Hector Castro and Deborah Bach contributed to this report.

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