‘Real Snow’ Slows Traffic To A Crawl

Heavy snowfall Wednesday in the Inland Northwest stalled commuters and further frayed the nerves of tens of thousands of people still shaking off last month’s ice storm.

“I’m sick of the snow - period,” said Chris Gatewood of Spokane, who was watching the powder fall from the downtown Nordstrom store.

“The snow was fun when I was a kid, but I’m not a kid anymore,” he grumbled.

The storm started in the early afternoon, dumping 2 inches of snow every hour at Lookout Pass in North Idaho.

“It’s like a blizzard,” said the ski area’s mountain manager, Jay Eischen. “It was a beautiful morning, but it turned ugly fast.”

By 10:30 p.m., 6 inches of snow had been dumped on Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, stealing the “rush” from the evening rush hour.

Dispatchers for emergency crews and tow trucks were scrambling to respond to scores of calls - mostly cars, pickup trucks and semi-trucks sliding off icy streets and highways.

Commuters inched along in bumper-to-bumper traffic on slick roads. Crossing Spokane’s Maple Street Bridge was a 40-minute ordeal.

The Idaho Department of Transportation described driving conditions across the state as hazardous.

Getting around in some parts of Spokane was downright treacherous.

Steep streets leading up Spokane’s South Hill turned into bobsled runs. Cars that lost traction on the way up either blocked traffic or slid backward - causing motorists below to play automotive dodgeball.

Despite the snow and underlying ice, Sgt. Chris Powell of the Washington State Patrol said he was pleased with how most drivers performed.

“As far as accidents were concerned, we anticipated it was going to be the pits, but it wasn’t,” Powell said. “It was just more nuisance stuff than anything.”

Powell said the vast majority of mishaps involved cars sliding off roads or getting stuck in snow. No serious injury accidents were reported.

Snowfall was expected to taper off late Wednesday, and the National Weather Service called for light snow this afternoon in the region. Periodic snow showers are forecast through the weekend.

There were no announced school closures in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, but parents were advised to listen to radio reports this morning.

The Idaho State Police and Washington State Patrol urged people who don’t have to drive to stay off the roads. Those who have to drive to work this morning should get an early start due to expected slick conditions.

For Spokane snow-removal crews, “condition red” started at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Additional crews were called in and plows were scheduled for overnight duty.

Limited visibility near Ritzville, Wash., forced a two-hour afternoon closure of the westbound lanes of Interstate 90.

South of Spokane, state Highway 271 between Oakesdale and Rosalia was closed for five hours due to snow blown by 25 mph winds.

To the north, the storm was causing no new problems by nightfall in Pend Oreille County, but county commissioners declared an emergency earlier in the day.

Chairman Mike Hanson said commissioners hoped the declaration would make the Pend Oreille Public Utility District eligible for state or federal assistance with the damage already suffered.

Any damage caused by the new storm also would be covered by the declaration, Hanson said.

The Pend Oreille County emergency could piggyback with the one already declared in Spokane County for meeting the federal threshold for assistance.

Most of the Pend Oreille PUD’s 7,500 customers lost power at one time or another as the result of a Nov. 27 storm that dumped 12 to 18 inches of wet snow on the county. But only about 100 customers, widely scattered in the southern part of the county, were still without electricity Wednesday.

Construction manager Chuck Frandrup said officials hoped to have everyone back on line today if there were no new outages.

Despite the havoc Wednesday’s snowfall caused, some people can’t wait for more powder.

Keith Johnson moved to Spokane four months ago from Las Vegas. He said hasn’t seen snow in 10 years.

“I’m loving every minute of this,” he said. “I didn’t like the fact that it helped take my power away during the ice storm, but this is real snow here.”

Johnson, despite being a rookie Northwesterner, couldn’t help but dispense this bit of poetic advice:

“Just go with the flow and take it slow because it’s going to snow,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (2 Color)

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Kevin Blocker Staff writer Staff writers John Craig, Kristina Johnson and Mike Prager contributed to this report.