EDITOR’S NOTE: This story will be updated as weather forecast changes warrant.
The North Olympic Peninsula has entered Round 2 of a wintry storm series that brought more rain than snow today to the populated, low-lying areas.
However, the snow began in earnest in areas unprotected by the Olympics after sundown, and white-out conditions were reported on state Highway 112 toward Joyce and southwest toward Forks.
Snow is expected throughout the North Olympic Peninsula before the current storm down from the Gulf of Alaska departs sometime Thursday. Up to two feet are forecast for the Olympic Mountains.
After more frigid temperatures Friday and Saturday, expect Round 3 on Sunday.
The most-populated areas of the Peninsula — Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Sequim and Forks — will receive at least an inch of snow overnight, possibly more, the National Weather Service said this morning.
The Weather Service issued a winter storm warning late Tuesday afternoon. A gale warning continued in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and off the Peninsula’s Pacific coast.
Once the storm passes, the snow and ice coating will stick around for several days as temperatures again plummet into the teens and 20s into the weekend, forecasters said.
In fact, all temperatures across Western Washington will probably stay mostly below freezing through Christmas, Weather Service meteorologist Dennis D’Amico said Tuesday.
More snow is expected to fall on Sunday, the first day of winter, D’Amico said.
Sunny — but cold
Today’s snowfall followed a mostly sunny day Tuesday — even though daytime temperatures barely rose above freezing.
No weather-related problems were reported Tuesday as Clallam and Jefferson county officials enjoyed the day of calm.
David Proebstel, Clallam County Public Utility District chief engineer, reported no major outages on Tuesday.
“I don’t have anything on my list,” Proebstel said. “Nothing major at all.”
Two blown-down trees caused 127 outages on the West End on Monday afternoon, and an overloaded transformer left six customers without power at Dungeness Bay Boulevard in Sequim between 8:56 p.m. and 11:42 p.m., Proebstel said.
No power outages were reported in East Jefferson County on Tuesday, said Nina Huang, spokeswoman for Puget Sound Energy, which provides electricity to the area north of Mount Walker.
Transit systems
Transit bus riders had no problems getting around Tuesday, but the snowy forecast may change the game plan this morning.
Terry Weed, general manager of Clallam Transit, said extra staff will be available today.
“We’ll have extra drivers in the morning to cover the needs of passengers,” Weed said.
If the snow is 6 inches deep or less, Clallam Transit likely won’t chain the tires on its buses, Weed said. Extra maintenance personnel will be on hand if a need to use chains arises.
“We’ll have extra people and extra resources in hand to respond,” Weed said.
Jefferson Transit spokesperson Carol Headley said there were no weather-related incidents on Tuesday.
A supervisor will check the roads at 5:30 a.m. to determine whether Jefferson Transit will change its normal operations, Headley said.
Bob Martin, Clallam County emergency manager, released a statement Tuesday in advance of winter weather.
“Travel [today] is likely to be challenging, although county, state and city road crews have been doing an excellent job of clearing roadways in Clallam County,” Martin said.
“Motorists are advised to keep travel to the minimum necessary, carry traction devices, and above all — slow down.”.
