Here’s much snow Whatcom County has seen in this storm, and how much more to expect Sunday
A new storm will bring 1-2 inches more lowland snow Sunday, Feb. 14, according to the National Weather Service forecast Sunday morning.
As cold air and easterly winds linger across the region, freezing rain will be possible across portions of the Cascade foothills and Whatcom County late Sunday into early Monday, Feb. 15.
Rain is expected by Monday afternoon, with temperatures returning to highs in the mid 40s for the week.
Temperatures Sunday continue to hover around or below freezing, making ice a concern, according to John Gargett, deputy director of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management, in a Saturday afternoon email.
“The bottom line is it is going to continue to be cold, it will freeze tonight raising ice concerns and we are going to get more snow. Driving should be avoided,” he wrote Saturday.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Rocky Oliphant Tweeted Sunday that from 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12. to 3 p.m. Saturday, troopers had handled 39 collisions in Whatcom County.
Snowfall totals recorded in Bellingham by the National Weather Service ranged up to eight inches in the 48 hours from Friday to Sunday morning. Blaine reported slightly more than an inch of snow in the same period.
The Whatcom Transportation Authority has implemented its winter plans and increased staffing requirements and equipment is being utilized, Gargett added.
Puget Sound Energy has opened its Emergency Operations and Coordination Center, however, there were no reports of power loss in Whatcom County at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“Our plows are prepped and ready for snow this weekend,” the Whatcom County Public Works Department said on its Facebook page Saturday morning.
“Remember to give the plows plenty of space to do their work — stay back at least 100 feet Also, we’re pushing snow from the road to the shoulder, so please don’t park on the side of the road. We need a place to put the snow.”
The county’s travel planner website shows the plowing priority of all county roads.
Bellingham Public Works crews started plowing snow about 6 a.m. Saturday, according to an email from spokeswoman Amy Cloud.
Public Works’ street division had been laying down salt brine on streets in advance of the snow.
With this weekend’s snow event depositing up to ten inches of snow in places around Bellingham, city crews put down approximately 170 yards of salt and sand mix and another 80 yards of salt, Cloud wrote in an email Sunday.
In the 24 hour hours since 6 p.m. Saturday, the city logged 170 hours plowing or clearing nearly 200 miles of city streets, Cloud said.
With about 40,000 gallons of salt brine and boost last week sprayed on city roads last week, most main arterials are bare and wet, Cloud said. “Crews have cleared most priority routes, and begun work on middle lanes and turning lanes, and are heading out on secondary or collector routes and into neighborhoods,” she wrote.
City plows will work to clear catch basins to reduce the likelihood of flooding when temperatures rise and the current snowpack melts, she said.
Bellingham Public Works crews will be working around the clock until the snow event ends, she said Saturday.
This story was originally published February 13, 2021 at 5:27 PM.
