Seattle weather: More snow closes more schools; more flakes to come

More snow, rain and chilly temperatures are on the horizon for the Seattle area.

With a winter weather advisory around Puget Sound lasting until 10 a.m. Tuesday, some school districts preemptively closed schools or imposed two-hour delayed starts due to slick and icy roads.

Schools in Snohomish and Granite Falls in Snohomish County were closed on Tuesday, while several neighboring districts opted to start school up to two hours later.

Blaine, Ferndale, Lynden, Meridian and Mount Baker school districts in Whatcom County — which took the brunt of the frigid temperatures and snow from the Fraser Valley outflow — were closed on Tuesday. Schools in Bellingham reopened Tuesday with a two-hour delay after being closed on Monday.

In King County, Auburn, Muckleshoot Tribal School and Renton schools closed.

Schools around Grays Harbor and Pacific counties also closed.

Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the weather pattern was expected to continue for the next few days. Tuesday was expected to be drier, with snow showers subsiding during the day. But another round of precipitation was expected Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Temperatures were expected to reach close to 39 degrees Tuesday, causing any snow accumulation to melt. That will freeze overnight, with the potential to again create dangerous road conditions during the early-morning drive.

This round of frosty weather arrived over the weekend, with scattered snow showers dusting the metro area Saturday afternoon. Since then, the snow has been hit-or-miss, with eastern and northern areas of Western Washington seeing more of the white stuff than Seattle.

Dozens of school districts were on delayed starts due to ice and snow Monday, with many classes canceled in northwest Washington.

In Seattle, it has mostly been goopy spurts of snow, mixed with rain — not quite enough for a snow day, but it has brought black ice and traffic headaches.

A semitruck crash around 4 a.m. Tuesday on I-405 stalled traffic for hours in Renton during an icy commute.

As bitter Canadian winds travel south and bring a cold front in their carry-ons, the ebb-and-flow weather patterns are likely to hold strong through the week, said Dev McMillian, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The white fluff likely won’t stick much in Seattle, but it will farther east and north of the city. Snoqualmie Pass saw 5 inches of accumulation in 24 hours, McMillian said Monday evening.

“There is no major signal for significant snowfall accumulation during this (week in Seattle), but we could see dusting to maybe even some patchy snow on untreated surfaces like grass or untreated railway surfaces,” McMillian said.

Rainy, snowy weather will continue through Thursday in the lowlands, with highs in the 30s.

Those looking for a place to warm up can visit kcrha.org/resources/severe-weather-shelter/ to find resources and open warming centers.