Sudden snow hits hard

Published 10:22 am Tuesday, March 10, 2009

There was an unusual dish on the lunch menu Monday in Snohomish County: a blast of winter weather.

Light flurries became blizzard­like, producing whiteout conditions.

“People weren’t prepared for it, you know,” said Barbara Walters of Granite Falls.

Army Staff Sgt. Eric Stratton said he drove into snow after leaving Monroe on a recruiting trip.

“Once I got two miles out of town it was like driving into a white wall,” he said.

Several inches quickly accumulated on the region’s roads, sending police and fire officials rushing from one accident to the next.

“About 11 a.m. the snow first started to affect drivers,” Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.

Within minutes, officers were dispatched to help cars that were stuck on hills, had slipped off the roads or had smashed, he said.

The Washington State Patrol responded to dozens of accidents around the county. Between midnight and the end of the noon hour, troopers in the county tallied 41 crashes on state roads, trooper Keith Leary said.

Several inches of snow blanketed the roads in Lake Stevens.

On I-5, some frustrated drivers decided not to wait in snarled traffic near Everett Mall Way. Instead, they turned around and drove the wrong way on the shoulder to a nearby exit ramp.

Traffic inched eastbound on the U.S. 2 trestle after police closed the ramp to Highway 204. An accident blocked the ramp.

Drivers were diverted to Snohomish, and traffic on Highway 9 crawled toward Lake Stevens.

Roger Fuller, a driver for Husky Door Inc., said it took him 75 minutes to get from Everett to Frontier Village.

Walters, Fuller’s partner, drove from Granite Falls to meet him near Snohomish.

“It’s a mess,” she said.

The snow forced some Snohomish County schools to start late Monday.

Then, as the snow piled up, it caused more problems as officials worried about getting the children home.

Everett schools spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said the way the snow hit created major headaches.

Snowfall in the middle of the day leaves few opportunities to reach parents at work so they can make plans to send children home early.

Instead, students were sent home on buses at the regularly scheduled time on the school district’s snow routes, she said.

“We don’t want to send kids home to empty houses,” she said.

Almost as quickly as the snow piled up, it slipped away. Strong March sunshine broke through the clouds and melted the snow that covered the roads.

Snow in early March isn’t unusual, said Andy Haner, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. Last year, there was snow as late as April 21 in Snohomish County.

While the snow may have ended, the winter blast continues.

Icy roads caused the Snohomish and Everett school districts to start classes two hours late today.

Lake Stevens and Granite Falls school buses are operating their snow routes.

Some schools have canceled kindergarten classes and after school events.

For more information, go to www.schoolreport.org, or contact individual schools.

More sunshine is expected, but the forecast is for unseasonably cool conditions through Friday.

Trish Hartford of Lake Stevens, who was in Everett for part of the day Monday, said she felt like she was in a time warp.

“I thought maybe I had missed the whole rest of the year and was waking up in December,” she said.

Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com