Cold, icy roads lead to a second day of Whatcom school closures, delay
Cold and icy roads from Sunday-Monday snow have some Whatcom schools closed or delayed for a second day. Bellingham and Mt. Baker schools are closed and Ferndale schools will start two hours late, with no preschool, the district’s report.
Lummi Nation School also will be operating on a two-hour delay, according to a Facebook post by the school.
In a post on its website Monday night, the Blaine School District reported that it plans to operate on a regular schedule on Tuesday. The Lynden School District also reported on its website that classes are on for Tuesday.
After canceling all classes Monday, Western Washington University reported on its website that it will be on a normal schedule, though it said students, faculty or staff that felt conditions made it unsafe for them to travel may decide to remain home.
According to a letter emailed to Bellingham School District parents by superintendent Greg Baker, the district initially decided Monday afternoon to open schools on Tuesday.
“However, all last evening, through the night and into the early morning hours, hundreds of you let me know how bad it was in parts of the city, particularly the Geneva and Sudden Valley areas,” Baker wrote in the letter. “Our staff was out driving late last night and again this morning at 3:30 a.m. There were some icy/bad road conditions in many areas around town, but particularly in Sudden Valley, where I heard from numerous student drivers their fear of taking to the roads this morning.”
Baker said the district’s decision wasn’t only based on road conditions, but also on cold morning temperatures, when “our youngest kids are walking and taking the bus to school.”
While Whatcom County residents likely have seen the worst of the storm, which dropped 2 to 4 inches of snow at various locations, roads that thawed with Monday afternoon’s sunshine could be slick with ice after temperatures dropped overnight.
The Weather Channel reported Bellingham at 16 degrees at 5:30 a.m., and, with wind at 6 mph, that feels like 6 degrees.
The National Weather Service’s 3 a.m. report called for dry weather thru Thursday. “Next cold weather system arrives from Canada sometime Thursday night into Friday, impacting the area into the weekend. This will bring a reinforcing shot of cold air, strong northeast Fraser outflow winds, and another round of lowland snow.”
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 5:23 AM.
