Due to cold temperatures yesterday and overnight, much of the ice packed onto the slopes of Queen Anne has not yet had a chance to melt.
Intersection of Queen Anne Ave N and Roy St at around 8 a.m. Wednesday.
While many of the main roads in and around the neighborhood have thawed, the Counterbalance remains closed to traffic, with many cars still stuck in the ice.
With a record-breaking low temperature of 14 degrees at Sea-Tac overnight, the forecast for today calls for highs in the upper 20s to low 30s. Here are some quick notes on what this means for Queen Anne:
- Seattle Schools are closed again today. No school and no activities.
- No residential garbage, yard waste or recycling pick-ups Wednesday, November 24. If today is your collection day, you can put double the trash out next week.
- Early this morning the University of Washington decided to cancel all classes. Essential services remain open.
- Libraries will be open from noon to 5 p.m. today.
- Metro Transit is once again running on snow routes—Queen Anne-ers take note that while many buses may not be going up and down the hill, Metro does have a few snow shuttles in place to tackle the ice. Details here.
Here are updates from the Seattle Department of Transportation:
SDOT continues working to prevent freezing on snow routes:
- Currently the City has 17 trucks with salt spreaders and two flusher trucks deployed.
- Snow routes are in good condition.
- There was no significant re-freezing of cleared roadways during the past 24 hours.
- There are no significant problems on the snow route network.
- The Alaskan Way Viaduct and the West Seattle High Rise Bridge are bare and dry.
- Focus is on reopening closed roads. The Seattle Police Department and SDOT are working to review roads currently closed and will update the list online.
- The City will continue the same level of deployed vehicles for the morning commute; focus will be on efforts to prevent re-freezing, address trouble spots on Level 3 routes, and bring more roads off the closed list.
- Because of the possibility of precipitation today leading to the formation of black ice tonight, some roads will remain closed.
- 24 hour shifts will continue through Thursday, November 25.
Update 9:30 a.m.: Here are some more pictures of the snowy chaos, many which were submitted by neighbors around Queen Anne!