**NOTE: We’ve now started afternoon coverage – go here – thanks!**

(TOPLINES: *Winter Storm Warning now in effect till 10 pm* … Metro on snow routes. Seattle Public Schools is now ending ALL activities @ 12:35 pm (update from early am), Vashon School District 2 hours late, Explorer West out 12:35, Our Lady of Guadalupe out 12:30, Seattle Lutheran HS out 12:15, Hope Lutheran, WS Montessori and Holy Rosary out 12 noon, Shorewood Christian canceled. Continuing coverage below.)

(Refresh for latest pic from WS Bridge camera, looking eastbound, and Junction cam, more on the WSB Traffic cams page)
FIRST REPORT, 5:01 AM: Starting our morning weather/traffic watch: It’s snowing here in Upper Fauntleroy, and sticking. Remember that Metro already was planning to be on snow routing to start the day, in ALL areas. Please share info on what it looks like where you are. Here’s an iPhone pic of snow on car/road right outside:

It’s a thin layer, though, as of that 5:05 am photo.

BUS INFORMATION: Here’s the snow routing info from Metro (which reminds you to PLEASE sign up for alerts for your route/s and is advertising that fact here and on other media sources).

SCHOOL INFORMATION, ONGOING UPDATES: Seattle Public Schools says it will dismiss middle and high schools EARLY today, 12:35 pm, because of “the snow expected this afternoon.” (Update at 9:54 am – They’re now ending ALL activities at 12:35 pm.) Vashon Island School District is 2 hours late. (We’re checking on local independent schools, but direct reports are welcome – editor@westseattleblog.com – so far, Explorer West getting out at 12:35 pm, Seattle Lutheran HS out at 12:15 pm, West Seattle Montessori, Hope Lutheran, Holy Rosary out at noon, OLG out at 12:30, Holy Family dismissing after lunch, Shorewood Christian CANCELED.)

6 AM UPDATE: That’s California/Thistle near WSB HQ, photographed a few moments ago. Checked the depth on our car – about 1/4″. No road problems reported so far in our area but drive VERY carefully. Light-to-moderate snow still falling here, has been steady for at least an hour and a half.

6:20 AM UPDATE: Adding to the school information higher up in this story – Vashon is 2 hours late. Note that the forecast calls for more snow later; the Winter Weather Advisory is in effect till evening. From SDOT via Twitter:

Snow routes pre-treated overnight. Two pre-treatment trucks working on SR99 and West Seattle high rise now. Snow routes in solid condition.

6:50 AM UPDATE: From the mayor’s office:

With a winter weather advisory calling for snow throughout the day, Mayor Mike McGinn activated Seattle’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) this morning. The EOC will remain open as needed to monitor weather conditions and provide support and coordination with city departments.

The winter weather advisory is calling for unusually strong winds, with sustained winds at 25 mph, and gusts up to 40 mph. Temperatures are expected to remain at or below freezing all day. Snow flurries will continue this morning with snow at times this afternoon and early evening.

7:02 AM UPDATE: Starting to get light, will wait till then for next photo. Snow much lighter than it was two hours ago. Still no notable trouble reported on any area roads.

7:27 AM UPDATE: And – the snow’s picking up again. We’re checking out a fire response around 41st/Hinds, “4 Red” so not a full house fire.

7:38 AM UPDATE: Explorer West Middle School will close at 12:35 pm, per Tanya via FB. Meantime, from Fauntlee Hills, Cheryl sends this view looking north on SW Trenton (including her neighbor’s “authentic train signal):

We’re not too far north of there, a little bit higher elevation, but much snowier here. New photo shortly. Yours are welcome too.

7:51 AM UPDATE: East Marginal is “not an option,” we’re hearing via cdawg 2610 on Twitter – took a long time. Also note that Fauntleroy ferry dock is slippery, per DLGordo on Twitter (see the “live camera” on the WSB Traffic page). Meantime, the photo immediately above was taken a few minutes ago looking north on California from Thistle (our HQ vicinity) – both arterials but starting to get some snow sticking on the surface despite ostensible earlier deicing. And here’s California looking southbound, just north of The Junction, taken about 20 minutes ago:

8:16 AM UPDATE: More reports of slippery roads (co-publisher Patrick took the north-of-Junction photo on the way back from checking 41st/Hinds call and he says the Charlestown vicinity was especially slippery). Thanks again to everyone sharing road and bus reports in the comments. After the commute, we will start adding non-snow news BELOW this story, since it’s programmed to stay atop the page (yes, there IS some non-snow news to talk about!). Meantime, Cathy shares this photo taken about 7:45 am from Upper Alki – they’ve got about half an inch so far:

8:32 AM UPDATE: SDOT says that as of 8 am, they were planning to send out snowplows as needed. Meantime, a couple scenes from Sunrise Heights; first from Ty, looking toward Westside School (WSB sponsor):

Ty has also posted an update on his neighborhood site Roxhill Rox. And via Facebook from Michelle – including the iconic cow-topped John’s Corner Deli, at 35th/Webster:

9:22 AM UPDATE: The snow’s back to falling more seriously. Very off-again, on-again. We have a beach-level photo of Alki, courtesy of Cami:

9:49 AM UPDATE: The National Weather Service has now issued a winter-storm warning for our area. Also, an UPDATE from Seattle Public Schools – they are now ending ALL activities for the day at 12:35 pm – no after-school activities, no conferences after 12:35, and as reported earlier, middle- and high-school classes are ending for the day at that point too. Also just in: Seattle Lutheran HS out at 12:15 pm, West Seattle Montessori out at noon. (added) Holy Rosary’s dismissing at noon, Our Lady of Guadalupe at 12:30.

10:23 AM UPDATE: Seattle City Council is in the middle of a prescheduled briefing on the city’s snow/ice response for the year. You can watch live on channel 21 or online at seattlechannel.org. Nothing new you hadn’t heard of before, but SDOT notes they currently have 25 of their 30 snow/ice/deice etc. trucks out, and they reiterate they are not clearing/deicing residential-only streets. SDOT official notes dryly, “We are the second hilliest city in the nation after San Francisco.” P.S. The snow here stopped almost the moment the “winter storm warning” came in.

11:11 AM UPDATE: And … the snow’s back. Pretty good shower (?) right now. Meantime, thanks to Sully for a photo from Westwood Village:

Sully also reports, “Parking lot looked really good. Rt. 21 snow shuttle running south of Roxbury, Arbor Heights loop.”

12:15 PM: We’ll be starting the afternoon story shortly – latest info will be there. (Update – here’s the link.)

(SUNDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING NOTES: Since the weather is the big news, we are keeping this story atop the WSB home page. *But* we have published more, newer news too – scroll past this story to find those other stories while this remains at the top of the page. We’re updating this story too, until we start a new weather story around mid-evening – latest update: Metro will run SNOW ROUTING Monday morning.)

(Video added 2:10 pm, a few minutes after we shot it outside WSB HQ)
ORIGINAL 11:14 AM REPORT: Some flakes are falling in Upper Fauntleroy. That follows the 6 am-ish sighting in Sunrise Heights mentioned in our previous weather report, and a Twitter note reports light snow in Admiral about an hour ago. Seen any where you are? Meantime, the National Weather Service has changed its forecast again. Latest one (which is accompanied by a new “special weather statement”) says:

This Afternoon: Snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph becoming east northeast. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tonight: Snow showers likely, mainly after 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33. North northwest wind between 6 and 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Monday: Snow showers likely, mainly before 10am. Partly sunny, with a high near 36. Windy, with a calm wind becoming north between 27 and 30 mph. Winds could gust as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

As for online forecaster Cliff Mass – as of a few hours ago, he was forecasting a north/south split.

2 PM UPDATE: A somewhat serious snow flurry? shower? up here right now. Recording video. Meantime, the National Weather Service has upgraded its alert to a Winter Weather Advisory.

2:27 PM UPDATE: The video we added atop the story is from our HQ, about 340 feet up, but it’s snowing close to sea level too – Lola shared this video from Fauntleroy/Findlay in Fairmount Springs:

Your photos, video, and info VERY MUCH welcome, as this goes on – not just “isn’t it pretty” but also, if it starts to affect roads (etc.), there’s huge value in showing what’s happening where you are – here’s all the ways to get it to WSB – thanks!

2:44 PM UPDATE: Just in from SDOT:

Temperatures are expected to drop later today on Seattle streets. Crews will begin late this afternoon applying anti-icing material on hills, curves and known icy spots. They will continue with anti-icing operations through the evening and night while continuing to carefully monitor the temperature and condition of the pavement. If any snow starts to accumulate Monday morning, the crews will begin to plow snow routes.

Still not sticking so far as we can tell. No sign of that in the cameras on the WSB Traffic page, either. (Remember that there are more cameras on that page than last time we saw snow, since the city has added “live” cameras in The Junction and Fauntleroy, among other places.)

3:21 PM UPDATE: Via Twitter, Rhonda from The Mortgage Porter (WSB sponsor) points out that the newest forecast says we might see wind gusts tomorrow as high as 47 miles per hour.

4 PM UPDATE: WSDOT is out with its “we’re ready” news release. Haven’t found it linked on their website yet and it’s a little long to run the whole thing here, so we’ve put it on a page here. Meantime, Danny Gawlowski of the Seattle Times (WSB partner) has compiled some scenes from around The Junction:

The artist you see, briefly, in Danny’s video is Linus Von Moos, painting outside Twilight Artist Collective – we’ve just published a separate story about what he’s doing. (Remember that for now, we’re keeping this atop the home page, but there are newer stories below it; when we’re ready to “unstick” this story later, it’ll fall back down into its chronological place.)

5:21 PM UPDATE: Just in from Metro’s Linda Thielke:

Due to the potential for snow during the morning commute, King County Metro Transit will start service on Monday with buses in all areas on snow routing. Metro has been monitoring the weather over the weekend and preparing for the possibility of snow. The Monday forecast from the National Weather Service indicates that cold temperatures and more moisture could cause snowfall in King County starting in the morning and lasting throughout the day. Check Metro Online at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow before traveling on Monday.

Our morning weather report carried a photo and information from JayDee about whitecaps and the north winds. This afternoon, once the tide rose, those winds brought these spectacular scenes. Thanks to David Hutchinson for the top photo and this next one:

And thanks to David Rosen of SlickPix Photography for sharing this video:

As for the latest forecast – here’s the link – the “s” word only makes a cameo; the National Weather Service also has a “special weather statement” in effect regarding the even-chillier temperatures on the way. 9:40 PM UPDATE: Cliff Mass has published his latest forecast within the past half-hour. Seattle snow? His answer: No. 6:01 AM UPDATE: Overnight, the NWS lifted the “special weather statement” – the lows don’t look to be heading quite so low. 6:27 AM UPDATE: Paul in Sunrise Heights reported a little light snow as of a little while ago – not seeing it here in Upper Fauntleroy, though.

(AFTERNOON UPDATE: A “special weather statement” now covers our area – scroll down)

Thanks to JayDee for sharing that Alki overview, photographed this morning – he calls attention to “the white caps and white stratus blowing from the north. The stratus has that reversed-incline that is the opposite of the surface wind direction — winds aloft are still from the south, which stretches the clouds northward.” Bottom line, he notes, it’s clear “the outflow from the Fraser is coming.” That’s the cold air from Canada that forecasters have been warning us about. Still no special warnings/alerts for our area, and the National Weather Service‘s latest map shows even the ones for other parts of Western Washington have largely been canceled. But popular online forecaster Cliff Mass wrote late last night about “uncertainty” – the cold seems certain, chances of snow, not so much. And the current NWS forecast for the city says it could dip into the upper 20s tonight. So focus on the freeze, make sure your pipes are ready, etc. (here’s lots of advice from Take Winter By Storm). We’ll be here 24/7 as always, to report/share weather, road, bus, school information as needed. 4:32 PM UPDATE: From David Rosen of SlickPix Photography, waves crashing over the Alki Beach seawall this afternoon:

The NWS now has a “special weather statement” covering the area – including the chance of snow – though it’s projecting that it’s not likely north of Tacoma; here’s the latest.