Had enough of the weather yet?

A powerful winter storm barreled through Snohomish County on Sunday.

Drifts nearly 8 feet deep were reported near Sultan. Lights flickered off in about 1,600 homes. In places, the slick roads proved too much even for four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The wintry mix of problems is expected to last at least through Tuesday, forecasters said.

For a region that has typical winter temperatures in the 40s and experiences drizzle more than flurries, the cold snap is wearing on many people’s patience.

“I enjoy the snow, but I’m pretty much over the coldness,” said Stephanie Belknap. “I’m ready to be back to normal driving conditions.”

Belknap, 22, said she had few customers drive up Sunday to Fourth Street Espresso in Marysville, despite being one of the few caffeine filling stations open that morning.

An Artic blast has brought snow, ice and temperatures much lower than usual to Western Washington for more than a week.

Crews have been working round-the-clock shifts trying to keep roads passable.

Each day, Washington State Patrol troopers have tallied collisions they’ve rushed to investigate.

In Snohomish County this weekend alone, troopers responded to nearly 100 crashes, trooper Keith Leary said.

Statewide, troopers were called to more than 750 accidents in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. Sunday.

Officials feared worse.

“It appears that people heeded our request to stay at home,” said John Batiste, the State Patrol chief.

On Sunday, Gov. Chris Gregoire joined a chorus of officials who told drivers to stay home.

People seemed to take the advice. Transportation officials said lighter-than-usual volumes helped crews using snowplows and other equipment get their jobs done.

Still, drivers likely will need to spend much of the week slowing down.

“This weather system has challenged our crews in all corners of our state,” state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said. “We are using every possible resource to help people get around, but we need drivers help to drive safely in these slick and snowy conditions.”

Residents in hard-hit Sultan were told Sunday to stay off the city’s streets.

“In some protected locations the areas appear passable until travelers reach main intersections in town,” city administrator Deborah Knight wrote in an e-mail. “Vehicles are getting stuck and making it more difficult to clear the streets.”

A cold weather shelter was opened in Sultan at the Crosswater Church.

The latest storm that swept into Western Washington on Saturday evening didn’t bring the widespread, near-­hurricane strength winds forecasters expected.

Gusts reportedly topped out at close to 60 mph near Gold Bar, according to the county’s Department of Emergency Management.

The winds that hit the county late Saturday and early Sunday were enough to knock out power to hundreds of customers in Canyon Park, Arlington, Granite Falls and Sultan, Snohomish County Public Utility District spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.

Extra crews from outside the region were brought in to help try to restore power as quickly as possible.

Precautionary efforts likely helped reduce the number of homes that went dark, Neroutsos said.

Extra money has been spent on trimming trees, especially in trouble spots including Camano Island. Only isolated outages were reported there.

It also helped that the strongest gusts hit rural neighborhoods with few homes.

“The heavy winds didn’t hit the heavily populated areas” of the county, Neroutsos said. “It could have been worse if the winds had been higher.”

The weather caused other problems, too.

As temperatures warmed above freezing Sunday, many people reported burst pipes.

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, thousands of stranded passengers endured long lines and confusion as airlines announced canceled flights and scrambled to accommodate people on an already hectic holiday weekend. Nearby hotels filled and some people were forced to sleep in the airport.

People who were in Seattle to catch connecting flights were told by airline officials that they may not be able to book another flight until Christmas.

Peggy Lafe, 51 of Wasilla, Alaska, was in an Alaska Airlines airplane on the tarmac for an hour before the airline decided not to fly out. She said the pilot mentioned the airline didn’t have enough deicer to safely take off.

After getting back in the terminal, she spent another six hours in line trying to reschedule a flight to Miami.

“What, are we going to spend Christmas in Seattle?” she said.

Busy cellular networks made it difficult for most people to call out of the airport.

After several attempts to call out, Donna McKee, 76, of Eastsound on Orcas Island booked a hotel room for the night. She was supposed to fly to Fairbanks, Alaska, on Sunday to spend Christmas with family.

“We’re a little frustrated, but what can you do?” said her husband Bud McKee, 77.

Teressa Anderson, 42, and Kofi Goseer, 31, of Fife were supposed to catch a Mexico-bound cruise ship in Los Angeles at 3 p.m. Instead, they were stuck at the airport, waiting for friends to take them back home.

“I guess we’ll go to work tomorrow,” Anderson said. “First we’ll go home and cry,” Goseer added.

While there were a few outbursts from bleary-eyed travelers, many made the best of it, striking up conversations and commiserating with other grounded people.

“It’s frustrating, but we’re hanging in there,” said Rick Schroeder of Gig Harbor, who had to rebook a flight to Phoenix, Ariz.

Conditions are expected to improve at the airport, but those with travel plans are urged to check with their airlines.

Despite the persistent cold temperatures and seemingly endless snowfall, the latest series of storms isn’t one for the record books, said Clifford Mass, a weather expert at the University of Washington.

Previous winter storms caused much more widespread power outages and also took lives, he said. The worst extended period of bad winter weather on record in the region was January 1950.

That year, temperatures remained below freezing for 18 straight days, 13 people died and one blizzard swept into the Puget Sound lowlands.

“This is nothing like that,” Mass said.

The snow wasn’t enough to deter firefighters Fil Norris and Tim Dalton with Snoho­mish County Fire District 7 and Arlington Fire Department respectively.

On Sunday, the pair were on a mission to deliver holiday presents to the needy in Everett.

The volunteer job, which should have taken less than two hours, wound up taking more than four, Norris said.

Still, it was worth it.

“The kids are smiling,” he said. “It makes us feel great.”

The holiday spirit was as abundant as the snow.

In the midst of the deliveries, the firefighters stopped for about 20 minutes to help a man whose car got stuck in the snow.

“We didn’t want to leave him out there in the middle of the road,” Norris said. “That’s just in our nature.”

Reporter David Chircop contributed to this story.