Seattle Snowpocalypse Feb 8-12 2019 Megathread
Thought I'd start a thread here on FT to cover some of the water cooler conversation that's happening here in town, because forecasts are starting to point to a major weather event this weekend that's likely to impact Seattle-Tacoma travel well into next week.
Essentially, on top of the snow we've already received this week, Seattle is destined for two more snowstorms: one Friday night into Sunday morning that could drop ~3-6" of snow, and another one Monday-Tuesday that will add another 3-6". At the worst, we could be in for over a foot of snow - there are a few models that predict even higher accumulation amounts around Puget Sound (with the European model predicting up to 20" total.) The hyperbole in the thread title will almost certainly prompt a heartily deserved eyeroll from our friends in MSP and DTW, but Seattle almost never sees this much snow - less than once per decade. We simply don't have the snow removal equipment to handle it, and combined with all the hills in town, an event like this will shut down the city for multiple days. That will likely extend to the airport, as well - the last snow event caused major cancellations at SEA, and it was much less severe than this one is being predicted to be. Some discussion from local weather sources: - Cliff Mass (a respected, if a bit hyperbolic, local forecaster/professor/weather blogger) (current prediction 6in Fri-Sat + 6in Mon-Tue) - KOMO TV (current prediction 3-6 in Fri-Sat + slightly less 2-5 in Tuesday) - Weather Underground (prediction 4-8 in Fri-Sat + 5-8 in Monday) - European ECMWF Model (prediction 6-8 in Fri-Sat + 8 to 12 in Monday-Tuesday) We're still too far out for weather waivers to be issued yet - predicting snow around here is famously sketchy - but the models are starting to converge, and if you're planning travel to or through SEA in this timeframe it's probably time to start thinking about alternatives. If you're planning work travel here early next week, it's likely your colleagues won't be in the office and the whole city will be shut down for a "work from home" day (translation: hot chocolate and sledding). If you're simply connecting, I expect the airport will probably recover within 24 hours of each precipitation event stopping, but as long as the snow is falling it's going to be ugly, and cold temperatures could mean heavy deicing delays that aren't planned into the schedule like they would be in other stations. The view of Mt. Rainier from the A SkyClub sure will be pretty, though! I'll try to post new information as we get it, and would encourage others to as well. I suspect we'll get a weather waiver sometime tomorrow afternoon once the forecast firms up, and by then hopefully the impact will be a little more clear of the storm. (Of course, this snow event could turn out to be nothing, in which case I'll cheerfully accept a mocking thread title change by the mods and slink back to the Lounge thread where I belong. :D) https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...008e38c0a2.jpg |
The few inches that arrived on Sunday basically shut down my office in downtown Seattle for 2 days..
If this arrives as-is, it reminds me of the snow event maybe 5-6 years ago that shut down everything for almost a week. |
yeah that was in december 2008. We got 20+ inches in north suburbs
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Originally Posted by jeet
(Post 30748068)
yeah that was in december 2008. We got 20+ inches in north suburbs
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Originally Posted by pulpfiction78
(Post 30748080)
My relation to time is not that great, hah! It was over 10 years ago then not just 5-6 years :)
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After conferring with another DL forum Mod, this thread is going to the PNW Destinations forum.
Were one to be a little competitive and compare DL/DL Connection cancellations over the period to AS/QX cancellations, that would be fairly DL-related. :) 3Cforme - Delta Forum Moderator |
Originally Posted by jeet
(Post 30748068)
yeah that was in december 2008. We got 20+ inches in north suburbs
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Originally Posted by jeet
(Post 30748068)
yeah that was in december 2008. We got 20+ inches in north suburbs
Here is a link to the storm: https://expo.oregonlive.com/news/err...08-blizza.html |
The European Model was the only one that predicted the correct path of SUPER STORM SANDY which clobbered the NE.
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Originally Posted by nrr
(Post 30748464)
The European Model was the only one that predicted the correct path of SUPER STORM SANDY which clobbered the NE.
David |
Originally Posted by DELee
(Post 30748528)
Anything else besides Sandy that the model got "correct"? Something more recent and more than one event?
David There's an interesting article about it on Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/03/the-european-forecast-model-already-kicking-americas-butt-just-improved/ |
Originally Posted by DELee
(Post 30748528)
Anything else besides Sandy that the model got "correct"? Something more recent and more than one event?
David |
So far, seems like at least the first storm is still on track. The National Weather Service is upgrading its prediction and now the guess for Puget Sound is closer to 5-8 inches in the first (Fri-Sat) event: https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...17ccd72a1.jpeg |
[moderator edit] the weather waiver is now out right on schedule from Delta for the first, more certain snow event. It covers flights on Friday and Saturday, but not Sunday or beyond yet: https://www.delta.com/us/en/advisori...winter-weather |
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