The media coverage (some might say frenzy) leading up to this week’s storm hit the airwaves hard by mid January. There were predictions of over a foot of snow hitting the region and anticipations of society coming to a halt as a result. "Snowmageddon", "Snowpocalypse" and other terms meant to both prepare and alarm people were used by media outlets everywhere.

While the predictions were ultimately off on the storm’s course, the predicted impact was spot on.

The snow showed up in scant amounts by Sunday, Jan. 15, but the real payload started dropping in the early morning hours on Wednesday, the 18th.

And it just kept dropping.

Public works departments fired up their snowplow fleets and hit the streets, but it was a tall order to keep up with the main arterials, let alone the side streets.

Traffic conditions across the region became treacherous, people were urged to stay home – some were simply unable to leave even if they wanted to, schools shut down, meetings and events were cancelled by the dozen and garbage collection screeched to a stop.

As Wednesday progressed the forecasts started coming in: we were told we may have seen the worst of it and Thursday would be a mix of rain and snow as a warming trend would emerge.

And then came the ice.

Early Thursday a new problem suddenly emerged: an ice storm, apparently the worst the region has seen in over a decade. Freezing rain glazed every house, tree, automobile, plant and road. Traffic conditions became even worse than the day before and trees began to strain under the weight of being encased in ice. In a cruel twist, Good Samaritans who had shoveled sidewalks and walkways were greeted with a more dangerous walk than those who had let the snow be and streets that had been properly plowed became ice rinks.

Governor Gregoire declared a state of emergency and gave priority to dairy product delivery.

As Thursday wore on the trees weakened under the weight and eventually fell, often times crashing down on power lines.

Tens of thousands of people lost power and Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy crews were quickly overwhelmed – both by the magnitude and stretch of loss and the dangerous, difficult conditions they needed to traverse in order to make repairs.

At the time of this writing (Jan. 20), it is expected that many thousands will be without power for days to come.

A slow reprieve finally arrived on Friday, Jan. 20, as temperatures rose well past freezing and a massive thaw began. Traffic conditions remained dangerous and ice turned to slush, but snow plow crews were finally able to get ahead and make their way off the main drags and into the neighborhoods.

With the thaw came a new forecast for days of rain. That coupled with the snowpack melt resulted in a flood danger warning from the National Weather Service.

The City of Seattle asked residents and businesses to locate nearby storm drains in the street and to clear them of snow and debris.