The arctic cold outbreak that is bringing record lows to the Plains, the Midwest, and the East, is hitting hardest near Seattle, where an ice storm has left 20,000 residents in Whatcom County without power just before the new year.
The freezing rain made driving very perilous, causing first responders to encourage drivers to stay off the roads unless totally necessary (doing new year shopping for example becomes quite tricky).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KNOW SOMEONE IN WHATCOM COUNTY?? Things are *NOT* going to be nice up there tonight. An Ice Storm Warning is in effect until midnight tonight. Temps "feel like" 22-27° with wind chill in places like Lynden <a href="https://twitter.com/Q13FOX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Q13Fox</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WAwx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WAwx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IceStorm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IceStorm</a> <a href="https://t.co/jONc1xMflg">pic.twitter.com/jONc1xMflg</a></p>— Katie Boer (@katieboerTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/katieboerTV/status/946967945380446208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">30 December 2017</a></blockquote>
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John Gargett of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office issued a stark warning: “We need to keep people off the roads up there. It’s not safe to travel.”
Mr Gargett stated that the storm was especially severe north of Mount Baker Highway and east of Guide Meridian, whilst emergency responders were overwhelmed with the great number of calls from local residents.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shots from frozen Lynden tonight. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Q13FOX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Q13FOX</a> <a href="https://t.co/XsagFYtKvw">pic.twitter.com/XsagFYtKvw</a></p>— Tatevik Aprikyan (@TatevikAprikyan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TatevikAprikyan/status/946978116353671169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">30 December 2017</a></blockquote>
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Ice sheets of 2 to 3 inches thick were spotted on cars, roads and power poles.
According to a local weather specialist, the local temperature would ‘feel like 22-27° with wind chilling in places like Lynden.’
Near the Canadian border, in Bellingham and north of the city, thousands were already without power, and energy company Puget Sound Energy reported multiple downed power lines.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here are images of some of the damage our crews encountered earlier today in Whatcom County. Safety first! Never touch downed power lines because they might be energized. Call us at 1-888-225-5773 or call 911 to report problems. <a href="https://t.co/kDcXcym3NR">pic.twitter.com/kDcXcym3NR</a></p>— Puget Sound Energy (@PSETalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/PSETalk/status/946960255509938177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Source:
http://komonews.com/news/local/freezing-rain-ice-hit-whatcom-county
GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!
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