Here’s what you need to know about Whatcom County snow Monday
More than 12,000 Puget Sound Energy customers across Whatcom County were without power Monday morning as a fierce weekend storm closed schools and made driving treacherous.
A combination of snow, ferocious winds and record-breaking cold covered many roads around Bellingham with compact snow and ice starting Sunday morning.
Monday temperatures likely won’t get above freezing in Bellingham, said meteorologist Mike McFarland at the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“We’re going to stay on the cold side for a while,” McFarland said.
A low of 15 degrees about 1 a.m. Monday broke the mark of 16 set in 1989 at Bellingham International Airport, according to weather service records.
Lows Monday night could be in the single digits, McFarland said.
Roads will remain slippery until temperatures begin to warm above freezing Tuesday and Wednesday, McFarland said.
Roads that thaw with Monday afternoon’s sunshine could be slick with ice once temperatures plummet overnight.
“The arterial roads in Bellingham are in good shape, but it is still slick out there,” the city said on its Facebook page. “Only drive if you need to.”
Amy Cloud, spokeswoman for the city’s Public Works Department, told The Herald in an email that crews will be working around the clock Monday night.
“We know it will be icy again tonight so we’re continuing to run three shifts on the city’s snow routes which cover the arterials, some secondary arterials and (bus) routes,” Cloud said.
A high-wind warning remained in effect until 4 p.m., but Whatcom County residents likely have seen the worst of the storm, which dropped 2 to 4 inches of snow at various locations locally, observers said.
“When you have winds like this, it’s hard to tell” how deep the snow is, McFarland said in a telephone interview.
Strongest sustained winds at the airport were 31 mph, with a gust of 58 mph about 4 a.m. Monday.
Wind chill was -6 degrees at 5 a.m.
Wind damage, airlines affected
A roof blew off the B and B Border Inn in Sumas, said Chief Jerry DeBruin of Whatcom County Fire District 14.
Some airline arrivals at Sea-Tac were delayed on Monday morning, KUOW-FM reported.
Alaska Airlines canceled one Bellingham flight because of wind, but the airport itself was operating normally, officials said.
Bellingham officials closed its waterfront Waypoint Park on Saturday as a precaution against the forecast high winds.
Schools closed, buses running
Public and private secondary schools were closed in Bellingham, Blaine, Mount Baker, Nooksack Valley, Ferndale, Lynden and Lummi Nation.
Monday was a scheduled day off for Meridian schools.
Western Washington University, Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College all canceled classes.
Whatcom County and city of Bellingham offices were open.
Bellingham Public Library and Whatcom County Library System locations were open, according to their websites.
Whatcom Transportation buses were running normally with a few delays, the agency tweeted.
Power outages
Overnight winds cut electricity early Monday to about 12,000 PSE customers, in dozens of outages mostly north of Bellingham.
By 10 a.m. Monday, power had been restored to all but about 1,000 customers in nearly 100 localized small outages, PSE said at its website.
Largest outages were in areas west of Ferndale and east of Sumas.
Elective surgeries were delayed at St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham, which was on generator power after electrical surges Monday morning, said PeaceHealth spokeswoman Bev Mayhew.
“Our back-up generator kicks on within seconds of a power failure, so patients were never/are not at risk,” Mayhew said in an email to The Bellingham Herald. “As is standard procedure, we have pushed back our elective surgery schedule until our primary source of power is restored.”
Crashes, emergency response
Mayhew said the hospital Emergency Department wasn’t reporting an increase in injuries from cold-related car crashes or slip-and-fall mishaps.
Several car wrecks were reported Sunday and Monday via social media and through the emergency services app Pulse Point.
Bellingham firefighters were called to treat a patient for a cold exposure Monday morning, according to an unconfirmed emergency radio broadcast.
Firefighters also were sent to Viking Union at WWU when water leaked from a burst pipe, causing damage on the fifth through seventh floors, said university spokesman Paul Cocke.
“It appears that a heating coil froze sometime over the weekend, possibly because an outside air vent was in the open position,” Cocke said in an email. “When the Viking Union heating system started to warm up for regular working hours on Monday, the leak was discovered. “
Cocke said the damage was about $20,000 and could go higher.
Most of the building isn’t affected, but he said parts of the building could be closed temporarily for repairs.
Ski area open
Mt Baker Ski Area was open with about 8 inches of new snow, according to its website.
Mount Baker Highway was open with compact snow and ice to the ski area, with traction tires required for cars, according to the state Department of Transportation website.
Snowfall totals
Wintry conditions across Western Washington are the result of frigid northeast winds from the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, a weather pattern that meteorologists call the “Fraser Outflow,” McFarland said.
Snowfall amounts ranged from scant accumulations — with larger drifts — in Lynden, 1 to 2 inches in Bellingham, 3 inches in Geneva and Sudden Valley, 8 inches in Marysville and 3 inches at Sea-Tac, according to weather service and observer reports.
Randy Small of Lynden, who maintains the Whatcom County Weather page on Facebook, posted National Weather Service data showing a wind gust of 75 mph at Sandy Point Shores west of Ferndale.
“The roads are clear here. I’m not feeling any ice,” Small said in a Facebook Live video that showed poor visibility as snow swirled around Bender Fields north of Lynden.
“Winds have been howling all night,” he told the Herald via Facebook Messenger.
Road conditions
Winds likely kept the light, fluffy flakes from sticking to the asphalt in many places north of Bellingham, McFarland said.
Interstate 5 north of Bellingham was mostly clear, as were many northern county roads, according to driver reports.
But in Bellingham, slippery conditions caused several car wrecks and What-Comm, the county 911 service, urged residents to stay off the roads.
“If you do not need to drive, please don’t,” was posted about 4 p.m. Sunday on the Whatcom County 911 page on Facebook. “We are receiving reports of crashes all throughout the county.”
Initial snowfall was thick and wet Sunday morning in Bellingham and along the south shore of Lake Whatcom.
This week’s forecast
McFarland said the worst of the storm is over for now.
“It looks like the peak was about 4 a.m.,” McFarland said. “It’s going to be dry and cold the next few days.”
But forecasters are watching two storm systems that could bring more snow later this week and on the weekend.
“Once (the Fraser Outflow) starts coming down, there’s no recovery,” McFarland said.
“We’re going to have a few opportunities (for snow) over the next week to 10 days,” he said. “ For those who like snow ... it will be interesting to see how this develops.”
He said those weather systems were too far away to make accurate predictions now.
Homeless in need
A nonprofit group that opened a tent encampment for homeless people behind City Hall in January is asking for money to continue to house people in hotel rooms and out of the frigid temperatures.
“I’m concerned for the safety and the health of the people that remain in camp,” said Jim Peterson, president of HomesNOW!, the group that the city of Bellingham allowed to erect Winter Haven, the temporary tent encampment at 210 Lottie St.
Peterson, in a video posted Monday morning on Winter Haven’s Facebook page, asked that people donate to the group’s PayPal account so that the group can access the money immediately.
“I am begging, pleading, whatever I have to do. We need help getting into motels tonight,” Peterson said on Facebook Monday morning. People can contribute through PayPal to admin@homesnow.org.
Lighthouse Mission Ministries encouraged people to send those who were homeless to its Drop-In Center at 1013 W. Holly St. in Bellingham.
The center is an emergency shelter. Lighthouse Mission has been working with Fountain Community Church to host a cold-weather shelter at the church. It has been open every night since December, and other churches also have contributed to the effort.
The cold-weather shelter will stay open through February.
Last year, the church offered spaces for 50 women each night.
This year, the cold-weather shelter added another 30 spots should other shelters run out of space on the coldest nights, according to a news release from Lighthouse Mission Ministries.
To donate to the efforts or learn more about its services, call 360-733-5120, or go online to thelighthousemission.org.
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published February 4, 2019 at 4:47 AM.
