Blame the sun for additional slowdowns during morning commute

If you found yourself trying to escape the glare of the sun during your drive into work Tuesday morning, you weren’t alone.

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Several slowdowns along our region’s main routes were thought to be at least partially caused by glare from the sun, KIRO Radio’s Chris Sullivan reported on Seattle’s Morning News.

“It looks like a lot of heavier slowdowns correlate to staring the sun in the face,” he said.

Take I-5 near the Tacoma Mall, as an example. Sullivan says drivers in the northbound lanes drove straight into the sunlight as they veered east toward Fife. Drivers were seeing delays of up to 10 minutes, without a car crash in sight — it wasn’t until Federal Way that crashes became an issue.

If the sun really caused that much confusion on the roadway, then it looks like drivers in Western Washington can have just as much trouble driving in dry weather as they do driving in the snow.

The morning sun was a relief from Monday’s off-and-on rain showers that, at times, became downpours. But the sun isn’t supposed to stick around for long.

The National Weather Service says sunshine will give way to increasing clouds Tuesday afternoon as another system approaches. Rain will arrive overnight and last through Wednesday morning.

There could be a break in the rain Wednesday evening, but it won’t be long before the showers start up again through the remainder of the week.

At least we won’t have to deal with the sun in our eyes.

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