By The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Snow was falling early Tuesday across much of Western Washington following a windstorm that felled trees and caused thousands of power outages as gusts reached 60 mph in the northwestern part of the state.
With light snow falling from western Oregon into Canada, a region where the principal means of removing snow from local streets and roads is rain, classes for more than 100,000 students were canceled in Tacoma, Olympia and other school districts and private schools, mostly around south Puget Sound.
Light accumulations of snow were predicted during the day and an inch or two possible in most areas Wednesday night, according to National Weather Service forecasts.
The state Transportation Department, which does have snow removal equipment for major highways, dispatched crews overnight to apply sand, anti-icing solutions and other traction-enhancing material on key ramps, overpasses and bridges.
After reaching into the low 40s Wednesday, temperatures were unlikely to rise much above freezing before Friday with lows in the teens and low 20.
Puget Sound Energy, the region’s largest utility, reported 3,000 homes and businesses without electricity early Wednesday, down from an estimated at the peak of the high wind problems late Tuesday in Island, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
Two other outages affected roughly 3,500 Snohomish County Public Utility District customers on Camano Island on Tuesday, spokesman Mike Thorne said.
Gusts of 45 mph were recorded at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Windblown trees, branches and downed power lines closed State Route 9 for more than four hours in Sedro-Woolley, State Route 20 for nearly four hours in Hamilton, east of Sedro-Woolley, and State Route 116 for five hours on Marrowstone Island, east of Port Townsend. Route 116 was reopened late Tuesday night and Routes 9 and 20 early Wednesday.
East of the Cascade Range, winds gusted to more than 100 mph at the Mission Ridge ski area southwest of Wenatchee in the central part of the state and Avista Utilities personnel reported 4,500 homes and businesses in the dark in the Idaho Panhandle.
The storm was the fourth in slightly more than a month and a half. The worst cut power to about 1.5 million people in the region Dec. 14-15 and has been blamed for 14 deaths, half from carbon monoxide poisoning as residents turned to generators, charcoal grills and propane heaters during the ensuing cold snap.
