More than 35,000 without power in western WA as snow hampers restoration efforts

Friday’s snowstorm has slowed down efforts to restore power lost in this week’s windstorms. It has also forced local ski resorts to cancel operations.

There are roughly 38,000 customers without power, mostly on the east side and near Snoqualmie Pass, according to Puget Sound Energy (PSE).

As of 6 a.m. Friday, PSE had restored power to more than 95% of customers, but PSE spokesperson Andrew Padula said Friday morning snowfall had caused outage numbers to rise again.

“It’s this latest weather system that’s moved through that created some unexpected activity for us,” Padula said.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, more than 50,000 people were without power across the state.

Crystal Mountain, Snoqualmie Pass among areas affected, ski operations limited

The storm forced Crystal Mountain to suspend operations for the day, with officials citing the closure of Highway 410 and ongoing power outages.

Power also remains out across Snoqualmie Pass. Summit Central is operating on backup power with limited lift service, and night skiing has been canceled.

Padula explained how the early morning snow has impacted some of the power lines, causing branches to fall and creating hazards for crews.

“It looks like some of these branches that we’re seeing have been a result of this heavy snow falling on these branches, which could potentially create more problems for us as we start to try to do more work,” Padula said. “That also creates the challenges and the danger for our crews who are out there trying to check the lines and prioritize those systems to make sure that everything is working properly.”

Remote terrain, heavy snow making access difficult for crews

PSE will focus on remote terrain on Friday, which is much more challenging for crews to access and repair.

“The foothills have been a bit more challenging trying to get to some of these remote areas, the terrain being a little bit more difficult, and now with the snow coming in, that’s creating some more problems for us,” Padula said. “The work today is trying to get to those locations where we can really do damage assessment on the system and then determine the repairs we need to make so we can get everyone’s power back on today.

“The heavy snow is creating some problems and dangerous conditions for our crews; it takes a little bit more time for us to get out there. We are planning to get a helicopter to help with some of those patrols of our transmission lines, weather dependent, which will help us determine what areas maybe need to be fixed,” Padula continued. “I know there are already several, I think about eight, locations that we know of right now, on the Snoqualmie side, where we need to make some repairs. Just getting there is the challenge, though.”

Read more of Jillian Raftery’s stories here.