Friday’s Whatcom forecast calls for more snow showers, and finally some weekend rain
Further snow accumulations aren’t in the forecast, even though temperatures across northern Whatcom County remained well below freezing Thursday afternoon in the face of a stubborn northeast wind from British Columbia.
“There is a high concern for frost and ice on roads county-wide overnight into Friday,” John Gargett, deputy director of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management, said in his Thursday evening press release.
Light snow was reported sticking to the ground in Bellingham and Lynden at 1 p.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle and Randy Small of Lynden, who operates the Whatcom County Weather page on Facebook.
“I don’t know if it’s going to warm up much tonight,” said meteorologist Gary Schneider at the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“We still have just enough of the northeast wind from the Fraser Valley keeping it cold,” Schneider told The Bellingham Herald.
He said pockets of cold air might linger into Friday, but that temperatures would warm gradually into the weekend.
The Bellingham Public Schools notified parents and staff schools would be closed Friday due to the storm.
Rain was forecast for Saturday and Sunday.
“There will be a few snow showers overnight, but it’s not going to be anything like what we’ve had,” he said.
Environment Canada’s forecast was for temperatures around 30 degrees and light snow Thursday night in Abbotsford B.C.
U.S. forecasters were calling for a chance of snow showers Thursday night with a low around 34.
The temperature in Bellingham was 27 degrees at 1 p.m. Thursday, after rising to 43 briefly at 2 a.m. Thursday under a strong southerly wind.
Lynden was 26 degrees at 1 p.m. Thursday.
But Sudden Valley was 34 degrees at 1 p.m. Thursday with slowly melting snow, according to a Weather Channel measuring station.
A National Weather Service station near Alger was reading 43 degrees at 1 p.m., showing the stark contrast between north and south winds.
Road conditions
Road crews continued plowing and sanding and driving conditions improved.
The Bellingham Police Department in a tweet at 3:37 p.m. advised drivers to slow down, increase following distance and take the bus home.
“While some of the road appear to be clear (thank you, Public Works), there is a coating of ice on them now. The sanders are working hard,” the tweet read.
AccuWeather’s “Snow Days” app showed a 20 percent chance of school cancellation Friday.
Meteorologists, public works officials and emergency managers said that roads that thaw during the day could freeze Thursday night, making conditions slippery.
As snow begins to melt, there was concern for street flooding from clogged storm drains, said Michael Olinger, street maintenance supervisor for the Bellingham Department of Public Works.
“For the next 24 hours or so we expect that half our crews will deal with the lingering impacts of the snow event and the other half will be working to clear storm drains so that the melting snow can be collected,” Olinger told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Storm impacts
A least one death could be connected to this week’s frigid temperatures, a woman who died in a trailer fire Wednesday along the Mount Baker Highway. A homeless man died of apparent exposure in Bellingham last week.
A water main break Wednesday on Racine Street caused headaches for Public Works crews, said Amy Cloud, spokeswoman for the Bellingham Public Works Department.
Crews cleared massive amounts of snow from the freeway in Whatcom County, WSDOT North Traffic tweeted.
Fallen trees were blocking one lane of I-5 northbound near North Lake Samish, WSDOT tweeted about 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
Gargett, with emergency management, said WSDOT was reporting compact snow and ice on all state highways in Whatcom County.
“Chains are required from Maple Falls to the Mount Baker Ski Area with upwards of a foot of new snow since yesterday,” he said in an email.
All buses were running normal routes except the 72X to Kendall, Whatcom Transportation Authority tweeted about 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Mt. Baker Ski Area was open but the Heather Meadows base area was closed for snow removal, ski area officials said at the website.
Search and rescue volunteers with all-wheel-drive vehicles have been providing emergency transport services since Sunday and are activated through the weekend. They have responded to more than 30 requests, Gargett said.
Winter shelters have been opened for homeless and at-risk people in Bellingham.
Gargett said that emergency response times that had been affected by fallen trees, road conditions and downed power lines were beginning to return to normal.
Coastal flood advisory
A coastal flood advisory was in effect Thursday morning, Gargett said.
A gale warning was posted until 4 p.m. Friday for southeast winds in 30- to 40-knot range with gusts up to 60 knots, Gargett said.
Low pressure from an approaching storm could produce modest tidal surges, he said in an email.
“We can expect minor tidal overflow on Friday and Saturday in their forecast for our king tides. Coastal communities in Whatcom County may see tidal effects from this event as it will coincide with the high tide at about 10 a.m. Thursday morning,” he said.
Affected areas include Lummi Island, the Lummi Peninsula, Sandy Point, Cherry Point, Chuckanut, Drayton Harbor, Blaine, Semiahmoo, Bellingham and Point Roberts, he said.
“Drivers and persons on the beach should be cautious along low-lying coastal roads and beaches particularly in the Point Roberts areas,” Gargett said.
Utility impacts
Sanitary Service Company said its drivers might not be able to collect trash and recycling when road conditions are unsafe. Garbage and recycling will be collected on the next regularly scheduled pickup day. The company recommends using plastic bags for extra garbage.
About 400 Puget Sound Energy customers remained without electricity early Thursday, the utility company said at its website.
Most were south of Bellingham, around the Chuckanut and Lake Samish communities and the Alger-Cain Lake Road area.
PSE said high winds toppled trees and the weight of wet, heavy snow caused limbs and branches to bend and snap, falling onto power lines.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Friday’s Whatcom forecast calls for more snow showers, and finally some weekend rain."
