Storm brings West Side first big snow of season

A cold front swooping in from the Pacific coast brought snow to northwest Washington on Thursday, while snow flurries and freezing rain slickened roads in the central and southern Puget Sound area.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for most of Western Washington, with the heaviest snow expected in Whatcom County, the San Juan Islands and the northern and central Cascade Mountains.

Forecasters were predicting as many as 6 inches for the Bellingham area and perhaps an inch in the Seattle area by early today.

More snow was forecast for Friday night into Saturday.

“This is definitely the first significant winter storm of the year for this area,” said Julie Holcombe, a Weather Service meteorologist based in Seattle.

East of the Cascades, where winter snow is the rule rather than the exception, the Weather Service issued winter storm warnings through Saturday morning for the Kittitas Valley and the state’s northeast mountains and Okanogan highlands.

In Western Washington, the Bethel School District canceled all classes in Graham and Spanaway, southeast of Tacoma.

Icy roads were blamed for more than 150 crashes on roads in Pierce and Thurston counties during a four-hour stretch of Thursday’s morning commute, State Patrol Trooper Johnny Alexander said.

No one was seriously injured in those crashes, or in a handful of accidents reported in the Bellingham area, the State Patrol said.

Department of Transportation crews sanding the roads in Whatcom County spotted 1 to 3 inches of snow in some spots by late Thursday afternoon, said Tony Hernandez, a DOT assistant superintendent of maintenance and operations for the Bellingham area.

“It’s kind of teasing us,” he said. “We’re waiting for it to make up its mind and really snow or back off.”