Record Snowfall Wallops Washington
Wall Street swindler Bernard L. Madoff walks down Lexington Ave to his apartment December 17, 2008 in New York City. / Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
Falling snow and a high threat of avalanches prompted officials to close three main east-west mountain passes in Washington state on New Year's Day and at least two of the highways were expected to remain shut down into Friday.
Another storm was expected to dump as much as 18 inches of new snow on the Cascade Mountains overnight, keeping avalanche danger high.
While Stevens and White passes were expected to remain closed into Friday, highway crews managed at 8:30 p.m. Thursday to reopen Snoqualmie Pass, which carries Interstate 90 across the Cascades.
Earlier, Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said officials would assess the pass situation Friday morning and proceed from there.
When all three passes were closed, travelers between Eastern and Western Washington were directed to detour south through Portland, Ore.
Washington has seen at least two weather-related deaths in the past week, while 10 people have been killed in recent British Columbia avalanches.
The next storm is forecast to bring snow and possibly high winds to large areas of winter-weary Eastern Washington from Yakima to Spokane.
In hard-hit Spokane, 2.4 inches of new snow fell Thursday, but more snow was expected in the evening, National Weather Service technician Bob Bonner said.
Spokane finished December with 61.5 inches of snow, far eclipsing the previous one-month record of 56.9 inches set in January 1950. Snowfall records in the area have been kept since 1893. The heavy snow has been blamed for more than a dozen roof collapses, including those at a church, grocery store, health club and building supply company.
An 85-year-old woman who lived about 15 miles southeast of Spokane died last weekend, suffocating when snow apparently fell from her rooftop and buried her as she shoveled her sidewalk, the Spokane County sheriff's office said.
On Wednesday, 24-year-old Megan Kinsella of the Seattle suburb of Redmond was killed after she and a male friend were hit by an ice slide after climbing in the Cascade Mountains near Enumclaw, Pierce County sheriff's Deputy Dan Hudson said. The man was hospitalized with a serious head injury.
The Weather Service also issued a high wind warning for the south Washington coast and south Washington Cascades and foothills through Thursday night.
Meanwhile, up to 7 inches of rain is expected in the mountains in Oregon, threatening to flood rivers already running high from last week's storms. Higher temperatures are also turning more snow into water, the weather service said.
State geologists warned that such conditions could be ripe for landslides.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Another storm was expected to dump as much as 18 inches of new snow on the Cascade Mountains overnight, keeping avalanche danger high.
While Stevens and White passes were expected to remain closed into Friday, highway crews managed at 8:30 p.m. Thursday to reopen Snoqualmie Pass, which carries Interstate 90 across the Cascades.
Earlier, Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said officials would assess the pass situation Friday morning and proceed from there.
When all three passes were closed, travelers between Eastern and Western Washington were directed to detour south through Portland, Ore.
Washington has seen at least two weather-related deaths in the past week, while 10 people have been killed in recent British Columbia avalanches.
The next storm is forecast to bring snow and possibly high winds to large areas of winter-weary Eastern Washington from Yakima to Spokane.
In hard-hit Spokane, 2.4 inches of new snow fell Thursday, but more snow was expected in the evening, National Weather Service technician Bob Bonner said.
Spokane finished December with 61.5 inches of snow, far eclipsing the previous one-month record of 56.9 inches set in January 1950. Snowfall records in the area have been kept since 1893. The heavy snow has been blamed for more than a dozen roof collapses, including those at a church, grocery store, health club and building supply company.
An 85-year-old woman who lived about 15 miles southeast of Spokane died last weekend, suffocating when snow apparently fell from her rooftop and buried her as she shoveled her sidewalk, the Spokane County sheriff's office said.
On Wednesday, 24-year-old Megan Kinsella of the Seattle suburb of Redmond was killed after she and a male friend were hit by an ice slide after climbing in the Cascade Mountains near Enumclaw, Pierce County sheriff's Deputy Dan Hudson said. The man was hospitalized with a serious head injury.
The Weather Service also issued a high wind warning for the south Washington coast and south Washington Cascades and foothills through Thursday night.
Meanwhile, up to 7 inches of rain is expected in the mountains in Oregon, threatening to flood rivers already running high from last week's storms. Higher temperatures are also turning more snow into water, the weather service said.
State geologists warned that such conditions could be ripe for landslides.
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------------------Posted by rudy6543 at 01:58 PM : Jan 02, 2009
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And I didn''t mean to imply that they stated any opinion for or against AGW -- they merely confirmed that the story going around the internet that Al Gore''s home is less energy-efficient than GWB''s is true. Sorry if I implied otherwise.
------------------Posted by rudy6543 at 01:58 PM : Jan 02, 2009
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I''ve generally found them to be thorough, and have not found them to be biased. If you have data otherwise, please share it.
--------------Posted by rudy6543 at 01:56 PM : Jan 02, 2009
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And who is to say which temperature is the "right" one for our planet? Given that our planet has been in an ice age in the past, and has warmed up to inhabitable temperatures in recent millenia, proves our planet is capable of very large temperature ranges, due primarily to the sun and volcanic activity. But at what point is "global warming" a concern? Maybe we need to warm back up to the climate several hundred years ago, when writings indicate that wheat was once grown on the continent of Greenland, which is now MUCH too cold? Perhaps our planet is in the midst of natural patterns of warming and cooling that have been going on for hundreds of millions of years.
Posted by RRozsa at 01:52 PM
Yeah, check it out at Snopes. They prove everything, don''t they?
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Posted by my2centss at 12:05 PM
I think it''s funny when the Limbaugh followers doubt global warming because some area gets record snowfall. Yes, in my area we have also been getting record snowfall, but does that mean global warming isn''t real? Nope, in fact the warmer temperatures that follow have been causing early melts and warming streams and lakes. The warming has been killing off salmon that migrate up the rivers and streams. Don''t think that just one element proves global warming a fraud. It is very much a problem everywhere.
--------------Posted by CarlyLaine at 05:59 AM : Jan 02, 2009
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Thank you, CarlyLain, for your post.
I know I''m not a scientist; therefore I can only research the topic, pro and con, and draw as informed a conclusion as I can. Unfortunately, it is much easier to find information from various reports and findings AGAINST the argument for HGW (Homogenic Global Warming) than "for" it. Those "experts" such as Al Gore don''t offer up any arguments to counter the arguments against it, including those by NASA, which state that the data used in Gore''s film was incorrect. According to them, we are unAmerican if we even request to debate the theory. Plus, if Al Gore really believed that *** he would have made his private residence AT LEAST as "green" as George W. Bush''s, and wouldn''t put his entire entourage into gas-guzzling SUV''s when he arrives at one of his lectures! (Check it out on Snopes -- what I say is true).
Follow the money --Take a look at who (on which side - for or against) gets paid millions to lecture on the subject, and is on the Board Of Directors of the very organization who sells so-called "carbon credits"? Then you''ll figure out whose "data" is the most trustworthy!
Posted by JT_Lancer at 10:07 AM : Jan 02, 2009
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Of course global warming is a natural phenomena, as it has been going on as part of the earth''s warming and cooling cycle from the beginning; and not just since humans populated this planet....The human element of greenhouse gases, however, have contributed to an accelerated warming. We cannot continuously pour our trash into waterways ,the environment and the atmosphere and expect no consequences from our actions....We may not be in whole responsible for global warning, but we ARE responsible for poisoning our planet.....