Hundreds of accidents and fender-benders reported in western Washington State after over-night snowfall causes hazardous driving conditions.

Modified Date: 
Thu, 02/19/2015 - 10:04am
Accident Date: 
Saturday, February 8, 2014

Blanket of snow causes hundreds of crashes across Puget Sound region.

The Puget Sound region made it through two winter storms that rolled into the Pacific Northwest relatively unscathed.

The Puget Sound region made it through two winter storms that rolled into the Pacific Northwest relatively unscathed.

The third one? Not so much.

A band of snow spread across the Puget Sound region Saturday evening, dropping anywhere from 2-6 inches across the region, making it the largest snow event to hit the Seattle area since the big snow and ice storm of January 2012.

The snow caused hundreds of crashes and spin outs -- state patrol troopers said they had over 150 in King County alone and 200 crashes in Thurston and Pierce County -- including one fatal crash that appears to be weather related.

Troopers say a man in his 60s died when his car collided with another vehicle on SR-9 just north of SR-92 near Lake Stevens. Both weather and speed appear to be factors, said Trooper Mark Francis.

Meanwhile, witnesses report about a dozen cars collided and/or spun out on a snowy 164th St. SW in Lynnwood near Manor Way. A car rolled over in West Seattle on SW Genesee and 30th Ave SW and a Tweet from the State Patrol showed a car into a ditch along US-101 in Thurston County. There is no word if anyone was hurt in those crashes.

Over on the Eastside, DOT cameras showed cars spun out on SR-520 near West Lake Sammamish Parkway, forcing WSDOT crews to close the I-405 ramps to Eastbound 520. Crashes just before 11 p.m. also blocked I-405 just south of I-5 in Lynnwood and I-5 both at SR-18 and the SR-104 offramp.

Bellevue Police Tweeted that they were responding to a number of crashes and were telling people to avoid driving:

The heaviest snowfall totals were in Southwestern Washington, where 7 inches was reported in Raymond and 6 inches were seen in Chehalis. Snow totals across Pierce County were in the 3-5 inches range, while about 2 inches fell across much of King and Snohomish Counties.

The steady snows are done. A few lingering flurries are possible Sunday morning but gradual warming through the day will change whatever falls to rain. By Sunday night, a push of warm air will send temperatures well above freezing and end any snow threats.

The cold air is vanquished in full by Sunday night and we switch to a rainy/mild pattern for next week with highs near 50 amid rain at times.

Type: Car Accident
People Involved: 
Roadway: 
Unknown

Add new comment

To prevent automated s-p-a-m submissions leave this field empty.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
1 + 18 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.