Spring snow showers not all that unusual

Friday's dusting of snow and the fat flakes that fell on the city around lunchtime were a surprising contrast with springtime daffodils.

· Photo Gallery: Snow in the Seattle area

But snow in March isn't all that unusual, and there might even be a little more on the way this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Traces of snow have been reported in the Seattle area as late as May.

Getting an inch or more late in the year is more unusual. The latest recorded snowfall in the Seattle area was 1.2 inches on April 17, 1972.

"It has been unseasonably cool, and it is late in the year to get snow, but it does happen," said Dennis D'Amico, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle.

The springtime dusting was the result of a "burly upper-level low-pressure system that chugged down from the Gulf of Alaska," said D'Amico. "It's not just cold air on the surface, it is cold air all the way up."

The mush made driving a little messy, but no serious weather-related accidents were reported in the city, Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said. An accident on the Ballard Bridge at 11:30 a.m. closed the bridge until about 1 p.m., but it's unclear if the head-on accident was weather-related.

A multiple-car accident with a trapped driver on Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass closed the highway eastbound for a short time Friday afternoon to let emergency vehicles through, said State Patrol Trooper Curt Boyle.

The weather is expected to remain unsettled through the weekend, with some snow flurries on Saturday, then a calmer, drier pattern emerging late Sunday and Monday, and continuing through the week with highs heading toward 55 degrees.

Spring may finally be just around the corner if that forecast holds up.