Temperatures fell to 14 degrees overnight in Seattle, ushering in a bleak and biting chill the city hasn’t seen for over a decade. Temperatures are unlikely to surpass a high of 25 degrees Saturday as a blanket of clouds settles over the city.
But the dip in temperatures won’t bring snow, forecasters say. Snowfall is expected to miss the city and instead go south over Olympia and Lewis County.
“The big weather story here is the cold,” said Dana Felton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
The last time Seattle had a high of 25 degrees was in 2010. If temperatures fail to hit that mark, Saturday will become the coldest day in a quarter century.
Amid the frigid temperatures, thousands of people lost power in South Seattle, with more than 1,600 Seattle City Light customers between Interstate 5 and Seward Park remaining in the dark as of roughly 11:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, public health officials advised residents to bundle up, drive safely and recognize the signs of hypothermia.
Warning signs can include uncontrolled shivering, confusion, slurred speech, extreme exhaustion and lack of consciousness. If a person is experiencing hypothermia — which can be exacerbated by wet clothes, exhaustion, hunger or alcohol — they or others should immediately call 911 for medical help.
Pets and livestock should also be kept dry and warm with clean, unfrozen water, officials said.
The weekend cold front is the result of a cold air mass that has dropped down over the northern United States, as massive winter storms hit much of the country. Seattle will experience just the edge of the cold front, however. In Spokane, temperatures dropped below zero, and in Montana they have fallen below minus 25 degrees.
Friday’s high of just 10 degrees in Bellingham marked the coldest day there in 59 years.
Sunday and Monday will bring incrementally higher temperatures, with sun expected both days, before another weather system arrives Tuesday. Seattle could see a possibility of snow Tuesday afternoon, but forecasters expect mostly rain into the middle of the week.
Until at least Tuesday, severe weather shelters are open overnight at the Exhibition Hall at Seattle Center and the Salvation Army in Sodo. The Urban League is open for people younger than 25, and the YMCA’s Angeline’s Day Center is available for single women. Families with children should call the Family Shelter Intake Line at 206-245-1026.
I’m in Spokane, and when I woke up I checked the outdoor temperature: 10°.
“Hey, not too bad!” I thought. “Warmer than yesterday.”
Then I noticed a weird little icon on the digital display that I had never seen before.
“What is that? It’s a weird shape, I wonder what it means.”
Then it hit me: It was the negative symbol. It was -10° outside. I had never seen a negative temperature on the display before.
If it’s any consolation, I’m in the Midwest and it’s -14 with the wind chill. I’ve spent probably seven hours over the last four days outside running my snowblower, trying to keep my house and three others from getting buried.
The snowplow came by three times in half an hour yesterday, and one of my idiot neighbors parked his truck in such a way that the plow had to divert around d it, dumping an entire block’s worth of snow in one of the driveways I’m supposed to keep clear.
Honestly I love the winter and I don’t even mind snow blowing, but even so it’s a lot. I could use a coffee from Cafe Vivace :) do bakeries still make “butter horns”?
Man, and I thought we were getting hammered up here in the mountains above Seattle. We lost power today for 5 hours or so. Thankfully we have a backup generator and a gas fireplace, or we would have frozen to death.
Oh damn, sorry to hear that, losing power in cold weather is no joke! Glad you had a backup, stay safe and toasty!
When the power goes out, I’m very glad I have winter camping gear. I can easily dress up all cozily, put myself in a sleeping bag or under a quilt, and I’m pretty good to go.
Yeah, I don’t think we would actually freeze to death. We could always dress up like Joey when he wore all of Chandler’s clothes, and then pile all of our blankets on top of ourselves, but we’d probably be pretty miserable, and we definitely wouldn’t get anything done.
We lost power here in south sesame and had to head over to my sister in law’s place in Renton. The power was initially annoying because it would go out for a split second and then come right back on. That went on for a couple hours then it finally went out for about four hours.
Ouch! That sucks. How were the roads and traffic?
There were a couple patches of ice but thankfully nothing too slick. Traffic was sheepishly light. SCL had a good estimate up pretty quick (which they beat) so I’m guessing a bunch of people either bundled up or went shopping close by for a few hours.
This is such an amazing area when traffic dies down. That was one cool thing about the pandemic, you could drive anywhere in 1/4 of the usual time.
This time, we don’t even get to see hilarious videos of people trying to walk on frozen hills and cars just sliding straight down.
Oh yeah! And that bus sliding slowly at an angle down John St, and colliding with a telephone pole.
Gotta say I’m really looking forward to waiting for the light rail for up to 26 minutes with temps in the teens.
I spent the day outside in Snoqualmie, it is bitterly cold out there, and the wind chill makes it so much worse.
Days like today remind me why I don’t live in the MidWest
If we are going to get the cold, at least give us a bit of snow. This freeezing with nothing pretty to look at is a bummer.
As a recent transplant from Georgia I am all sort of flummoxed right now
We tend to get one week of this kind of weather a year and the rest of the time it’s in the 40s for winter. The one week is colder than usual this year though.
