A winter storm roared into the Emerald City Sunday night, blanketing streets and homes with snow and bringing the Pacific Northwest's largest metropolis to a grinding halt. The city council and courts shut down operations, as did the University of Washington, the state's largest public university. City schools are shuttered. Businesses are closed. Flights into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have been canceled or delayed. Residents are urged to stay off the roads or, if they must drive, to consider emergency routes.
https://twitter.com/seattledot/status/828634357690544129
https://twitter.com/oms604/status/828628784119152640
https://twitter.com/seapubschools/status/828631555140489216
Note to Seattle Schools: That should be "Seattle Public Schools *are* closed today," but hey, who's the grammar nerd now?
Here's what it looks like out there:
https://twitter.com/HSIBuffaloJump/status/828631090109698048
Wait! No, that's Alberta. (Also, Winterfell?)
Still, conditions are treacherous, according to reports from around the city.
"Oh, the humanity! There must be an inch in Madison Park," Mossback columnist Knute Berger wrote at 7 a.m.
Crosscut Editor-in-chief Greg Hanscom reports even more of the white stuff in Wallingford, where frantic parents are wandering the streets, begging passersby to take their children. “Please! Microsoft doesn’t close on snow days! What am I supposed to *do* with these little monsters?!”
OK, he might have embellished that a little. But only a little!
EarthFix Video Managing Editor / Producer Katie Campbell sent this shot of the devastation outside her window. "I'm not going anywhere," she said.
Matt Mils McKnight, a digital content producer at KCTS 9, found Patrick Spencer and his wife, Celese, on the upper loop at Seward Park, apparently searching for edible plants and berries, having exhausted their emergency food rations.
Alright, we definitely embellished that one. But they do look hungry, don't they?
Meanwhile, 140 miles to the north:
https://twitter.com/IanAMartin/status/828631823190151169
Those hardy Canucks!
We'll keep this post updated throughout the day. In the meantime, you're advised to settle in for the long haul.
"Just when Ballard residents thought they might be able to go back to work by Wednesday, a few more snow flakes fell," writes Crosscut Senior Editor Joe Copeland. "There is no end in sight."
* Update: Not even the buses are safe:
