On this day in 1950, Seattle braced for snowstorm

On Jan. 12, 1950, extreme cold and snow slammed Washington, and it was one of the state's worst winters of the 20^th century.

The following day, Sea-Tac had nearly 2 feet of snow and downtown Seattle had nearly a foot.

HistoryLink.org author Phil Dougherty recalls the storm:

Although later many would recall that the 1950 cold wave started on Friday, January 13, the cold actually moved into the state from British Columbia during the morning hours of Thursday, January 12, 1950. It passed both Seattle and Spokane about the same time -- noon -- and temperatures in both cities fell steadily during the afternoon and night from a high of 32 degrees in Seattle and 24 degrees in Spokane. Bellingham picked up a quick seven inches of snow that day, but only light snow was reported in a few other places outside of northwestern Washington.

That all changed on the morning of Friday the 13th. Beginning about dawn in Seattle and a little later in Spokane, a blizzard set in that affected much of the state. The storm's timing turned out to be critical: The snow started early enough in Seattle that schools were closed, but in Spokane it struck after classes had already started.

In Seattle winds gusted to 40 m.p.h. with temperatures in the low teens. One man was killed in a bizarre accident when a truck skidded on a snowy road into a car. A man riding in the car was thrown into Lake Washington and drowned.

This week in Seattle temperatures are expected to be cold but dry. Morgan Palmer explains the outlook for skiers and snowboards tonight on KIRO 7 News from 5-6:30 p.m., and anytime with the KIRO 7 Weather App.

Follow this link to read the full 1950 snowstorm essay from HistoryLink.org.

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