Cold weather returning to Western Washington
EVERETT — The chill is coming back.
Overnight lows in the Snohomish County lowlands over the weekend are forecasted to be in the 20s with highs in the 30s, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle. There is a 15% chance that snow will exceed 0.1 inches between Seattle and Arlington.
Further north in Bellingham, snow and heavy winds are more likely due to outflow from the Fraser River.
“We may see some flurries with little skits of snow, but mostly it’ll just be cold,” said Kirby Cook, science and operations officer with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
Temperatures near Darrington were expected to dip below 15 degrees late Saturday and Sunday.
The cold weather is not expected to be as drastic as what Snohomish County experienced in December, where nighttime lows reached 7 degrees and one woman died in her car within a mile of the nearest cold weather shelter.
But this cold snap will still effect people who work outside as well as the homeless population that’s vulnerable to colder temperatures, Cook said.
Snohomish County cold weather shelters open on every night that is colder than 34 degrees. There are shelters in Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville, Monroe and Snohomish, with daytime warming centers in libraries and other public spaces.
The Marysville shelter plans to open Saturday night, said shelter coordinator Nathan Ray. The county requires all cold weather shelters to use Accuweather to keep up to date with the forecast. Ray checks the weather weeks in advance and double-checks the morning beforehand to determine if the shelter will open.
Cold weather shelters in Snohomish County open when it’s colder than 34 degrees.
“There are times I wish it was higher because if the forecast is at 36 degrees my hands are tied and I’m not able to open,” Ray said. “It would be awfully hard to feel fine because it’s 36 degrees instead of 34.”
The county has a total of 173 cold weather shelter beds across the county, said Tyler Verda, in Snohomish County Human Services.
More cold weather shelter information
Visit snohomish-county-public-safety-hub-snoco-gis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/cold-weather-shelters for a rundown of all the cold weather shelters in the area.
Everett Family Cold Weather Shelter
5126 S Second Ave.
Doors open from 4 to 8 p.m
Contact [email protected] for more information.
Everett
First Baptist Church at 1616 Pacific Ave.
Doors open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m
Call 425-740-2550 for more information.
Marysville
Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 7215 51st Avenue NE.
Doors open from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m
Call 425-686-9272 for more information.
Snohomish
Snohomish Evangelical Free Church at 210 Avenue B.
Doors open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m
Call 425-535-0000 for more information.
monroe
New Hope Fellowship at 1012 West Main Street.
Doors open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m
Shuttle to shelter departs from Sultan Library at 7:45 pm
Call 425-535-0000 for more information.
South County Shelter
Maple Park Lutheran Church at 17620 60th Avenue W in Lynnwood.
Opens at 7pm
Shuttle to shelter from Lynnwood City Hall at 7:00 pm, Trinity Lutheran Church at 7:05 pm and the west of Highway 99 and 172nd Street at 7:20 pm
Call 206-743-9843 for more information.
Jonathan Tall: 425-949-2340; [email protected]; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.