Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >> Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) George VanMeter of Everett waits for a tow truck on the 164th Street I-5 North onramp Monday morning. VanMeter was heading back to his Everett home after deciding the traffic was too heavy when he slid off the road. (click to enlarge) Four-year-old Alex Owens of Marysville spent his day off school Monday sledding down an icy neighborhood street. Go to www.heraldnet.com for updates on schools closures. Dan Bates/ The Herald  (click to enlarge) Lake Stevens Parks Department employee Rex Ubert shovels snow on a sidewalk downtown near city offices early Monday.  Photo Gallery: Snow Day: January 28, 2008   ADVERTISEMENT   Winter weather Go to SchoolReport.org for school closures, and see our traffic section for the latest on how your commute is shaping up. Listen in Click on the audio links below to listen to two Snohomish County residents describe their experiences dealing with Monday's weather. John Landis of Monroe spent the day watching people skid into snow banks on the side of the road while working at his job as a contractor with Verizon. Sandra Martin of Arlington filled her propane tank to prepare for the possibility of worse weather Tuesday and planned to stay home baking cookies. Recorded by Kaitlin Manry, edited by Elaine Helm Safety first Here are some tips to stay safe: Never go out on frozen lakes, retention ponds or other waters. Don't play on the ice along the shore, even if it appears solid. Parents and caregivers should make sure children aren't left alone near lake ice. If you see someone falling through ice, do not attempt to make a rescue by going out on the ice. Try to throw a life ring, flotation device or rope for the victim to hold onto. Call 911 as quickly as possible. Be sure to give the exact location and an account of the incident. If the victim manages to get out, try to dry them off and keep them warm until emergency help arrives. Source: Snohomish County Fire District 1 Safe driving tips Winter road conditions require drivers to be alert, slow down and be prepared, experts said. Here are some tips to keep in mind the next time travel plans call for driving in the snow: Drive with your headlights on. Drive for conditions. Slow down on ice and snow. Don't get overconfident with four-wheel drive. It won't help you stop. Allow additional room between vehicles. Winter road conditions often result in longer stopping distances. Avoid abrupt actions while steering, braking or accelerating. Look farther ahead in traffic. Action by other drivers can alert you to problems. Don't use cruise control or overdrive. Stopping on snow and ice without skidding requires extra time and distance. If you have anti-lock brakes, do not pump the pedal. Instead, press the pedal down firmly and hold it down while it chatters and vibrates. If you don't have anti-lock brakes, gently pump the pedal. Either way, give yourself plenty of room to stop. Source: State Department of Transportation Safe heating tips When using a generator: Many homeowners have the urge to fire up a portable generator if the power goes out or to boost the heat. But if not used properly, a portable generator can cause a deadly accident or could be damaged when power is restored. To operate safely, a portable generator must be separated from your home's electrical system. If it's not, the generator will backfeed electricity out through the circuit breaker panel and into the neighborhood. If you use a portable generator, do not plug it into the household circuit unless you have a transfer switch installed by a licensed electrician. Or when you use a portable generator, make sure that the things you power are plugged directly into the machine. Source: Snohomish County PUD Carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless gas created when fuels, such as gasoline, wood or propane, burn incompletely. Since carbon monoxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted, it can cause illness or death without notice. When the gas is breathed in at lower levels, the effects may be mistaken for flu-like symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, disorientation, nausea and fatigue. Potential sources in the home include heating and cooking equipment that burn fuel, vehicles, and generators. Install carbon monoxide alarms inside your home. Alarms are designed to sound before the average healthy adult would experience symptoms. Test monthly and replace according to instructions. Install in a central location outside each separate sleeping area. If you need to warm a vehicle, remove it from the garage. Do not run a vehicle, generator or other fueled engine indoors -- even if garage doors are open. Dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide can still occur with garage doors open. Never leave a car running when it is parked or covered in snow. When using a fireplace, open the flue for adequate ventilation. Never use your cooking range or oven to heat your home. Never use a barbecue grill -- which can produce carbon monoxide -- indoors, not even in a garage. If someone is feeling ill: Evacuate all occupants immediately. Determine how many occupants are ill and determine their symptoms. Call 911 and when relaying information to the dispatcher, include the number of people feeling ill. Do not re-enter the home without the approval of a fire department representative. Call a qualified professional to repair the source of the carbon monoxide. Source: Snohomish County Fire District 1   Related Stories • How to make the most of snow 1/29/08 • Road crews and skiers will be busy 1/29/08 • Warmer weather eases morning driving conditions 1/29/08 • Snow slams Eastern Washington 1/29/08 • Salvation Army offers a place to escape cold 1/29/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Rain likely for morning drive By Jackson Holtz Herald Writer Forecasters are calling for an easier commute as warm air continues to invade the region and thaw out frozen roads. The National Weather Service’s Seattle bureau revised forecasts for snow late Monday, saying rain showers are likely around Puget Sound with snow levels rising above 600 feet. “Mainly it’s going to be a rain event (Monday night),” National Weather Service Meteorologist Carl Cerniglia said. “You’ll wake up to more wet than white." Cerniglia said temperatures will likely reach 40 degrees this morning, yet more snow could be on its way later this week. “We’re not completely out of the woods,” Cerniglia said. “With the pattern, borderline through the weekend, anytime could see rain and snow showers.” If snow does return, the morning commute could be a carbon copy of Monday’s, when snow blanketed Snohomish County, creating some dangerous morning driving conditions. Every school district in the county was closed Monday with the exception of Darrington, where snow has blanketed the ground since Christmas. The interstates slowed to a crawl as cars spun out. Off-ramps were blocked and some drivers unwisely stopped in the middle lanes of I-405 to chain up, officials said. "That's not the place you want to be doing it," said Washington State Patrol trooper Kirk Rudeen. By midmorning Monday, many of the region's roads, including I-5, still were icy parking lots. Granite Falls School District spokeswoman Kathy Grant battled a three-hour commute from her home on Camano Island on Monday. Particularly treacherous were stretches on East Camano Drive and on Getchell Road from Highway 9 to Highway 92. "I stopped counting all the cars in the ditch because there were so many," she said. By early afternoon Monday, the sun had emerged and the ice and snow on the roads had mostly melted. Still, the morning snow and unexpected snow day had many children scurrying to make snowmen. The mixture of excitement and panic that accompanied Monday's snow befuddled Katia Kavaliova, a 14-year-old immigrant from Belarus. When she came with her family to the United States 11/2 years ago, she left behind knee-deep drifts of snow. "There was a lot more snow there," she said. Much more snow is forecast for the Cascade Range in the coming days. As much as 3 feet of snow is expected to fall on the Cascades by Tuesday evening and more is on the way, said Johnny Burg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Heavy snowfall in the mountains on top of an already unstable snowpack is heaping more danger on already deadly avalanche conditions, experts said. Since December, nine people in Washington have lost their lives in avalanches, including three from Snohomish County, prompting experts to call this season the worse in modern history for avalanche deaths. Slick roads were the big problem in Marysville on Monday. John Landis spent his morning watching drivers slide into ditches as they tried to navigate the icy roads. In the span of two hours, he saw almost a half-dozen vehicles slip off 84th Street in Marysville. "Cars are unable to negotiate this left-hand turn," he said. "They're peeling out and sliding into the snowbank." Six months ago, Landis moved to Monroe from California and just now is learning how to drive on ice and snow. "It was scary," he said. "It got my adrenaline going a little bit. I had to learn how to touch the brakes and release." Sleds were making better use of other roads in Marysville. Kids barreled down 77th Street NE so fast parents had to stand at the bottom of the hill and catch them. "There's like so much slippery stuff," said Megan Owens, 9. "You'll slide like heck. It's fun!" Kids on the hill were hoping for at least one more day of snow. "I like it," said Tanner Lamoureux, 7. "It's pretty good 'cause it's fun to sled on. You can slide with your feet." In Snohomish, a few inches of snow decorated the riverfront. It wasn't enough to get Jazmine Seather, 15, and Stephanie Arellano, 18, too excited. "If it were more, we'd be playing," Jazmine said. Nonetheless, the two Snohomish High School students were happy that they didn't need to go to school Monday and hoped more snow would stave off upcoming exams. "We kind of want to do finals, but not really," Jazmine said. The final decision about school is expected to be made early this morning. School transportation employees across Snohomish County typically drive around their districts to assess driving conditions long before students get up. "They are out there even before 3 a.m.," said Debbie Jakala, a spokeswoman for the Edmonds School District. The goal in Edmonds is to decide by 5 a.m. to get the news to families who must plan their days, she said. It can be a tricky proposition because conditions can be vastly different from one part of the district to another, she said. Burg, the weather service forecaster, said he wouldn't bet on another snow day today. "It's probably a good idea to get your homework done," he said. "And, hey, if there's no school, there's no homework to worry about." Herald writers Eric Stevick, Yoshiaki Nohara, Kaitlin Manry, Lukas Velush and Krista J. Kapralos contributed to this report. Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.

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