Spokane7
55°
January 18, 2012 in City, Idaho
Snow, accidents piling up in Spokane area
UPDATE AT 5:00 PM Spokane County 911 has received 91 reports of traffic collisions since 8 a.m. this morning, the Spokane Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Most appear to be on roadways with higher posted speeds or roadways with steep hills, the sheriff’s office said.
Additionally, several schools have announced closures or activity cancellations. Here’s a roundup of the latest announcements.
— All after-school activities in the Clarkston School District has been cancelled tonight;
— Buses to Almira Elementary/Middle School will run two hours late Thursday. There will be no school breakfast or pre-school;
— Steptoe School will be closed Thursday.
— Mary Walker School District will have a 2 hour late start Thursday. There will be no preschool.
Scroll down this page to see school announcements made earlier in the day.
UPDATE AT 2:56 PM The East Valley School District No. 361 has cancelled all after-school activities on account of snow.
UPDATE AT 1:10 PM
The Spokane Police Department reported 12 snow-related collisions have occurred in the city since 8 a.m. today.
The Coeur d’Alene Police Department has reported 25 accidents and slide-offs between noon on Tuesday and noon today.
UPDATE AT 1 PM
Lewis-Clark State College in Coeur d’Alene has canceled all of its classes for this evening due to bad weather.
The business office in Coeur d’Alene also closed and the college’s Lewiston campus closed at noon.
Students should check to see if North Idaho College is open Thursday to see if classes will be held. If NIC is closed, LCSC will also be closed.
Lewiston had 7 inches of snow by morning with more expected this afternoon before easing by evening.
Information on snow closures will be released by 6 a.m. for daytime classes and 1 p.m. for night classes. Updates can be found at 800-254-4526 or www.nic.edu.
UPDATE AT 11:42 PM
As snow begins to accumulate today, emergency crews are responding to a series of accidents, including one on T.J. Meenach Bridge in northwest Spokane.
Spokane police closed Meenach Drive south of Northwest Boulevard while crews tried to clear traffic.
A 3-car accident on the northbound lanes at 11 a.m. triggered a tie up and other problems on the hill.
A fire crew called for extrication put 30 to 40 gallons of water onto the bridge, police said.
Elsewhere, a semi truck jackknifed on Interstate 90 near Sullivan Road about 10:44 a.m., and a westbound driver went off I-90 near Pines Road.
Another accident was reported on the treacherous Freya Street hill at 15th Avenue.
This afternoon, a driver lost control on I-90 westbound near Evergreen Road. The vehicle flipped and struck a utility pole.
Argonne Road hill was slowed during part of the afternoon, too.
The National Weather Service said today’s snow storm should ease off early this evening after the metropolitan area receives about several inches of snow. Downtown Spokane has already received upwards of 3 inches.
Accumulations should ease during the overnight hours.
Coeur d’Alene should see additional accumulations tonight and on Thursday as well.
Another snow storm is expected on Thursday with several inches possible on top of what already has fallen. Yet more storms are likely on Friday night and Saturday morning, Sunday night and Monday morning and Tuesday night and Wednesday. Some rain might migrate northward on Friday night and again on Saturday night, according to computer models.
Street and highway crews were fully geared up to clear the snow as it falls, officials said.
Law officers were calling for sand trucks at some locations.
Spokane International Airport was reporting delays, mainly on incoming flights, including one from Seattle.
Spokane Transit Authority reported it was on normal schedules and routes, but some delays were occurring.
Snoqualmie Pass was open at noon, but had been closed for a short time today for avalanche control.
Lookout Pass was also open to traffic. Cameras showed a snow-covered roadway.
Returning farmland to a state of nature 
Shadedmuse on January 18 at 1:44 p.m.
If you get in a wreck with a dusting a snow on the ground then your to stuopid to drive and deserve to get in awreck idiot moron.
polistra on January 18 at 1:51 p.m.
Well, I was really ready this time. Roof rake, new shovel, new gloves, lots of salt. Ready for the Foot Or Two that we were going to be buried under.
And we got it today! We’re buried under … an Inch Or Two. All my nice new tools are still nice and new. A broom was enough.
greyhound2 on January 18 at 2:32 p.m.
Amazing the big deal over two inches of snow. A few years ago there was about 90 inches with roofs caving in. This is the second day this winter for snow, does that mean a long, cold, rainy spring and summer?
nslopeofw on January 18 at 3:12 p.m.
We got at least 5 inches up by Wandermere golf course. Nice!!!!
Bet if they all had studs, they wouldnt have crashed.
WayFedUp2 on January 18 at 3:33 p.m.
If they weren’t stupid they would not have crashed. Growing up we had snow beginning in October and lasting till March and people were not stupid. Couple of walnut shell retreads on the 53 Chevy and no problems, but then, people were not stupid either.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on January 18 at 3:34 p.m.
I grew up in Spokane 67 years ago… and this all seems/feels “Much Ado about Not Much”… with the Extreme Weather Reports… folks driven by fear are afraid to “drive”…. use your noggin and stay in if you like… but this is really not much of a Storm folks… good grief… perhaps it’s the Californians among us that are havin such a tough time…. Wimpy Wimpy Wimpy.. gracious me…. I remember delivering hand bills at one cent apiece…for a “triples” drop…ie 3 cents per drop..for 300 houses from Bridgeport to Garland and from Nevada to Perry… with 15 degrees below blowin us around. in a 15 knot wind….. had three lighter fluid filled “hand warmers” and you could Drive on Davis Lake… my o my .. just get ur dun folks… john
ChefGus/ John Olsen on January 18 at 3:37 p.m.
Way fed up…. sounds/feels like you and I are contemporaries …. I remember the Walnut tires and Siping at the Gas Station on the corner of Empire and Nevada… my father was welding the inside of Oil tanks at Union Iron Works in that cold weather… sheesh j
ShadedmuseCannotSpell on January 18 at 4:46 p.m.
Iff yew git inner wreck u r dum adn yew shoodnt’ be driver. Stoupid 1d10t.
Shazamm on January 18 at 5:53 p.m.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Oh…never mind, it’s just snow. Would someone please tell the media?
misjustice on January 18 at 6:47 p.m.
@Shazamm, I KNOW! I couldn’t believe all of the “live remotes” on the teevee this morning, and that was BEFORE it even started to snow. “Reporters” standing along side the road, with a spotlight and a microphone, “reporting” on, well, basically, NOTHING…it took up the entire broadcast, as the anchors went from each “live remote” location to another.
Meanwhile, could there possibly have been REAL news happening?
*sigh*
Ed Byrnes on January 18 at 10:38 p.m.
When I was ski instructing this would not even be considered a snow storm, then again the shack I lived in back in those days was at 7500’ in the Wasatch mountains. A matter of perspective I guess…
Nonetheless when there are media reports about the treacherous Freya hill it has me wondering about our municipality: The Laps, a couple milenia ago, understood that hills, snow and ice together resulted in sliding; How is it that our municipality cannot recognize that there is much variation in peoples’ snow driving skills and deal with at the least the hills, like Freya, and Stevens coming up from downtown?
Welcome to Spo-can’t…
Ed