White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Enough snow for you? No? Gill Loring shared the photos of what’s already fallen, as more heads this way.

The current National Weather Service alert is a Winter Storm Watch taking effect Sunday aftternoon.

Could be a few more inches!

Hope you are staying safe and warm! The bulk of our snowstorm coverage is on our partner site West Seattle Blog but we’ll post White Center notes here as we get them. First one, from our business-info list:

WHITE CENTER BARTELL DRUGS: Closing at noon Saturday

Anything to add for WC/North Highline, let us know text or voice at 206-293-6302, our 24/7 hotline for both websites.

As announced tonight:

Here’s the Wednesday plan from Highline Public Schools:

The snow has stopped but overnight temperatures are expected to drop into the low 20s, meaning an icy morning, so Highline Public Schools are tentatively planning to open 2 hours late on Tuesday.

5:17 AM: Update – Highline Public Schools are now CLOSED for today:

Read the rest of this entry »

As of minutes ago, the National Weather Service’s High Wind Warning for our area is in effect – until 10 am Sunday. In the early morning hours, the NWS says, gusts could be as high as 60 mph. We’ll be tracking the storm as it passes through – if your power goes out or other types of storm damage (downed trees, etc) hit, once you’ve contacted authorities, please let us know too – our 24/7 text/voice hotline is 206-293-6302.

12:21 PM: The wind’s here and so is the first major power outage in our area – screengrab above is from the Seattle City Light outage map. The High Wind Warning remains in effect until 7 pm.

3:34 PM: This outage is down to 1,700+ customers. And the weather is “settling down,” as the National Weather Service puts it.

Remember the windstorm that cut power to thousands in our area last Friday? Tomorrow we might see even-stronger winds. The National Weather Service has a High Wind Warning in effect for 7 am to 7 pm Thursday. Charge everything!

(UPDATED 6:25 AM)

The snow has stopped, but what’s on the ground has stayed. School changes:

From Highline Public Schools:

Holy Family Bilingual School – 1 hour late. BASS available at 8, school starts at 9

Anything else we should know? Text or call our 24/7 hotline – 206-293-6302 – thanks!

Been seeing some snow? The National Weather Service has sent out an alert about it – a “short-term forecast” alert:

… A very light dusting of snow on grassy or cold surfaces may occur, especially along the west side of Puget Sound from Bremerton to Hood Canal, south of Tacoma in Pierce county, and hilltops around the Seattle metro area. Most spots will just have passing flurries with no accumulation.

Even if this doesn’t amount to much, the longer-term forecast says we’re likely to see more, with multiple chances tomorrow through Saturday.

The snow will soon be just a Christmas memory – so thanks to Gill for sharing photos.

2 1/2 inches of snow at Gill’s place. That was also the official White Center total on this National Weather Service list. The NWS says we might see a little more light snow Tuesday night.

Though it hasn’t been a blizzard, the snow has been steady since mid-afternoon. So a few notes: Metro is on snow routes for its south and southwest areas – that includes White Center, the rest of the unincorporated area, and points south. If you need to ride a bus, check for more details here. … The National Weather Service’s advisory for “winter weather” runs through 10 am Christmas Day, and after that, it’s supposed to warm up, with rain entering the mix.

6:18 PM: More than 3,800 homes and businesses are without electricity as a result of the storm – starting in southeast White Center and vicinity, as shown on the map above, and heading south into Top Hat and part of Burien. Any other storm effects in WC/North Highline? Let us know, text/voice 206-293-6302.

7:21 PM: Most have their power back, according to the City Light outage map – which has only about 200 customers still out of electricity.

Thanks to Gill for the photo – he says he’s never seen the White Center Bog that low on water! After all this rainlessness, it’s not surprising. But that might change this weekend – some forecasters say Sunday could be very wet.

4:24 AM: Lots more snow overnight and so we start with big news:

HIGHLINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CLOSED TODAY:

More to come.

7:30 AM: White Center’s Holy Family Bilingual Catholic School is closed today too, as are other independent schools – Shorewood Christian, Explorer West Middle among them. Buses are on snow routes, and roads are snowy, so don’t go out if you don’t absolutely have to!

Thanks to Gill for the photo – a snowy start to 2017 in North Highline and points north and south (the National Weather Service says Sea-Tac Airport recorded about two inches). The snow started a few hours into the New Year. It’s stopped, and forecasters are NOT predicting any more, but it will be cold for a few days – highs in the low 30s, lows in the 20s.

P.S. As of mid-morning, Metro is still on snow routing in some area – check here before you go.

ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: One more photo from our snowy New Year’s Day – thanks to Barbara Dobkin for this one:

About 3 1/2 inches, she estimated!

Thanks to Gill for the photo from an icy morning at the White Center bog – might not look this way soon, since temperatures are finally expected to climb back above freezing sometime Sunday.

Though the wind still hasn’t revved up that much, the power went out at 1:49 am for 3,783 customers (homes/businesses), mostly in Burien but also stretching into part of North Highline, particularly Top Hat. City Light’s map has yet to pinpoint what caused it; the guesstimate for restoration is currently 8 am.

4:15 AM: Outage over, per SCL map.

More than 34,000 homes and businesses are already out around the Seattle City Light service area, including parts of White Center – see the latest outage map here. If you’re not on it, call 206-684-3000. Trees are falling in many areas and have even killed one person (in Seward Park) when a tree fell on her car – don’t go out if you don’t have to, until this calms down.