Seattle suffers under Snowmageddon

Jan 19, 2012, 20:34 GMT

Seattle - The city of Seattle and the rest of the American Pacific northwest region was suffering under record snow and ice falls Thursday, closing roads, airports, schools and many businesses. One man was reported to have been killed by a falling tree.

Washington Governor Chris Gergoire declared a state of emergency as more than 120,000 people were left without power by a weather event dubbed Snowmageddon by the local media.

The National Weather Service issued an extreme weather warning because of the snow and ice storms, which made many roads impassable. Local authorities had limited resources available to tackle the conditions, as the area's usual temperate weather conditions meant they had only a handful of snow ploughs.

The record snowfall reached a depth of almost 15 centimetres at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, more than double the previous record set in 1954, according to the website Accuweather.com.

But airport officials said an even worse problem was caused by the ice storms that followed the snow, as rain turned to ice by freezing temperatures at ground level.

'It was sleety, freezing rain that just turned into ice instantly,' Sea-Tac spokesman Perry Cooper told the Los Angeles Times. 'That's more problematic than snow, because as soon as it gets down to the concrete and adheres to that, it's more difficult to snowplow off than snow.'

The winter weather came after a period of two months that had seen unusually dry conditions across the US west and Midwest, leaving most ski resorts and mountain areas without their usual blankets of snow.

In the far north, however, Alaska has been experiencing severe weather conditions all winter, with the town of Valdez receiving some nine metres of snow, more than double the average this time of year.

Conditions in Alaska are so cold that officials of the Cold Basin dogsled race called off the competition on Wednesday when temperatures dropped to 45 degrees below freezing.