Winter Storm Socks Puget Sound 70,000 Lose Electricity As Gusty Winds, Arctic Air And Snow Strike Washington

Washington state’s unseasonably warm winter weather ended with a shudder Sunday as cold, snow and winds blew into the state, cutting electricity to more than 70,000 homes and businesses.

Snowfall ranged from a light dusting in the south end of Seattle to a few inches in the northern part of the city, half a foot west of Puget Sound in much of Kitsap County and a foot or more in Poulsbo and along Hood Canal.

Blowing snow also contributed to a pileup involving at least 20 cars on Interstate 82 south of Kennewick, Washington State Patrol dispatcher Laura Larson said. Only one person was hurt seriously.

“It was a mess,” Larson said. “We ran out of tow trucks.”

The highway remained closed Sunday night from Kennewick to the Oregon state line because of poor visibility.

Winter storm warnings were issued Sunday evening for wind and cold north of Seattle to the Canadian border, snowfall of as much as 6 inches from Chehalis south to the Oregon border and cold, wind and snow ranging from 6 inches to a foot in the Horse Heaven Hills, the Palouse and Blue Mountains in the southeastern part of the state.

Less severe snow advisories for accumulations of up to 3 inches were issued for the south Puget Sound region from Shelton south to Chehalis and for the southern part of the coast.

Winds gusting to 80 mph left 70,000 customers of Puget Power & Light Co. and thousands of other utilities’ ratepayers without electricity.

About 55,000 of them were in King County, said Puget Power spokeswoman Melanie Granfors, adding that most of them would remain in the dark overnight and power to some would not be restored for 72 hours.

Utility crews were being summoned from as far as Oregon and seven of the eight other counties in Puget Power’s service area, Granfors said.

The hardest-hit area was the eastern fringe of suburbs from Federal Way to Kent and eastward to the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, especially between Enumclaw and Black Diamond about 40 miles southeast of Seattle.

The National Weather Service said reports from Enumclaw also indicated more than 100 homes had lost roof shingles in winds gusting to 75 mph.

“We’ve got low pressure just off the coast, spitting bands of moisture into Western Washington,” Weather Service meteorologist Ted Buehner said.

That low-pressure system also is sucking arctic air westward through the Cascade Range, resulting in the strong winds, he said.

Granfors said other areas with power outages included Kitsap County, where snow was a complicating factor; the southern part of Whidbey Island; and parts of Pierce County.

Thoroughbred horse racing was canceled at Yakima Meadows because of the cold.

Passenger-only ferry service between Kingston and Edmonds was halted briefly because of high winds Sunday morning.

The Southworth ferry dock east of Port Orchard also was closed, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Susan Harris said.

The Washington State Patrol reported numerous minor accidents and hazardous driving in the Puget Sound region, but major roads remained open.Washington, possibly dropping into the teens in some spots, Buehner said.

The storm also hit southwestern British Columbia, with strong winds knocking out power to several outlying parts of Vancouver, while Victoria shivered under a blanket of snow.

Electricity was cut off to thousands of homes from North Vancouver to the Fraser Valley as branches snagged power lines. Outages were reported in most of Mission, along with parts of Maple Ridge, Langley, Chilliwack and the upper Fraser Valley.

Some areas around Victoria reported 6 inches of snow.