Snow shuts down Renton in first half of week

Snow took Renton by surprise the evening of Sunday, Feb. 3. The result was icy conditions throughout the first half of the week.

As many folks wrapped up their Super Bowl parties they began to face snowy conditions on the roadways. At 7 p.m., public works crews were out applying salt and de-icer to roads. By Monday morning many Renton facilities were closed and snow plows were making their way through the major roadways.

Cold weather added traffic difficulty in Renton, but no emergency incidents happened as a result beside some car accidents, according to Renton’s emergency management department.

Just as things began to thaw, the Puget Sound area is expecting another winter storm Friday, Feb. 8 to Saturday, Feb. 9. The National Weather Service office in Seattle had announced that another round of “potentially significant” snowfall was possible in lowlands areas. Renton is expecting snow into the afternoon of Friday, peaking Friday night and into Saturday morning. As of Thursday, snow is estimated 4 to 6 inches in the area.

Renton has a chance of snow Friday into half of Saturday. The temperatures are estimated to be slightly warmer than earlier in the week.

The weather systems, making their way down from Canada, will be cold enough to support snow down to sea level, according to National Weather Service. They advise people in the lowlands monitor daily forecasts and prepare for more potentially hazardous travel conditions.

The city of Renton and Catholic Community Services opened their severe weather shelter Sunday night and continued operations through Wednesday. Renton Human Services Manager Guy Williams said the shelter was at capacity Sunday and Monday nights. There was 33 people, 12 women and 21 men Sunday night, and 34 people Monday night, including 20 men and 14 women.

Tuesday night 35 people stayed at the shelter, with an additional 25 men housed at St. Anthony’s.

“It is comforting to know that 60 people are warm tonight due to these designated spaces,” Williams said of Tuesday night.

Center of Hope also housed 55 children and family members at Harambee Church in downtown Renton.

Renton School District and Kent School District closed for weather Feb. 4 and Feb. 5.

Renton Technical College campus was also closed Monday and Tuesday.

City trucks continued to work through the streets as the snow came down. By about 1 p.m. Monday, public works said they had cleared main hill streets and other major streets like Sunset Boulevard, Carr Road and southeast 140th Street. As roads got icier, trucks continued work into Tuesday, with public works crews on 12-hour shifts.

Public works also announced the night of Feb. 5 that black ice was highly possible as wet roadways froze and shadowed areas were harder to de-ice.

Washington State Patrol troopers reported 577 calls for service Monday and early Tuesday in King County. There were no serious injuries involved, but still included spinouts, collisions and vehicles disabled in the weather.

Some customers with Seattle City Light saw power outages in the early morning hours Monday. They reported almost 10,000 customers were affected after 26 separate outages. PSE had three outages listed in Renton Monday, and did not all appear to be weather related.

Renton city courts were closed Monday, and events at Renton Community Center, Senior Center and Highlands Neighborhood Center were canceled Monday and Tuesday.

Republic Services also canceled waste collection in Renton due to weather Monday and Tuesday, with pick up for those customers affected on Saturday, Feb. 16.

The Renton Municipal Airport taxiway and runway were closed Monday until about 4:30 p.m. to clear snow and ice, according to airport staff, and then resumed normal operations.

People can sign up with ALERT Renton to learn about any emergencies via phone, text or email. You can find signup information on the Renton emergency management website, rentonwa.gov/city_hall/executive/emergency_management.

There are several websites that offer driving conditions and transit/metro updates, including: