Snow, icy conditions cause delays and closures in Thurston County Thursday morning
Thurston County residents woke up to snowy, icy conditions Thursday morning, prompting closures, delays and traffic impacts.
And while more snow may be headed to the Puget Sound area north of Olympia, Thurston County is expected to stay dry for the next 24 hours, with cloudy conditions giving way to mostly sunny skies and a high of 36 degrees.
A more robust storm system will increase chances of snow overnight when lows fall to about 24 degrees, according to the NWS. But rain is expected Friday as temperatures reach the 40s.
The Olympia forecast indicates rain rather than snow will most likely fall Saturday morning, but most of the weekend is expected to be partly sunny here with highs around 40 and lows below freezing.
Foreseeing these conditions, Thurston County announced a hazardous cold weather advisory late Wednesday afternoon. They did so to offer extended nightly shelter beds and support those who may need to shelter in place, The Olympian reported.
Winter storms knocked out power across the region earlier this week, but repair crews made significant progress by Thursday morning. There were just nine active outages in the Thurston County area as of 7:45 a.m. Thursday, according to Puget Sound Energy. Across the region, there remained 83 active outages, affecting 2,556 customers.
Closures and delays
Yelm Community Schools was the only school district in the county to closed Thursday. However, the district had yet to decide on after school and evening activities.
The remaining school districts in the county delayed school start times and canceled morning activities.
The Olympia School District announced all its schools would start two hours late Thursday. However, the district canceled morning preschool, child care, zero hour classes, before school activities and Avanti High School program for period 1-3.
OSD Morning buses will pick up students two hours late. All morning buses will run on snow routes, according to an 8 a.m. update.
“The district will monitor the weather and road conditions and decide by noon today whether PM bus routes will run on snow or regular routes and whether there will be any change to after-school or evening activities,” OSD spokesperson Susan Gifford said.
North Thurston Public Schools delayed classes by three hours and canceled preschool. Buses will operate three hours late to coordinate with the later start time.
Tumwater School District delayed classes by two hours and canceled preschool. Morning and afternoon buses will take snow routes.
Griffin School District delayed its classes by two hours. All buses will be on snow routes in the morning. Boys and Girls Club for Thursday morning was canceled as well.
Tenino School District delayed classes by two hours and canceled morning preschool. Morning buses will take snow routes.
Rainier School District delayed classes by two hours and canceled morning preschool. Buses will operate on snow route A.
The Evergreen State College delayed its opening to 10 a.m. Thursday but advised all required personnel should work their normal schedule.
