Marysville, Arlington respond to snowfall

A snowstorm blew across western Washington from Jan. 13 to Jan. 16, although the worst of it missed most of the north Snohomish County area.

“I would say this was a mild to average storm,” said Jesse Perrault, Marysville’s Public Works Streets Division Supervisor.

Perrault noted that Marysville seems to have missed most of the major snowfall “especially compared to some other jurisdictions down in south county,” he said.

Lynnwood got approximately six to eight inches at the beginning of the week “and that was crippling for them,” he said.

Arlington communications manager Kristin Banfield agreed that the worst of the snow fell elsewhere.

“It seemed like we got missed by parts of the storm,” she said. “We certainly didn’t get hit as hard as other areas such as Everett. We’re very fortunate we only had a couple inches.”

Perrault said the only thing out of the ordinary was that it was a series of storms throughout the week.

“Last year we a series of big storms a day or two apart, and this was similar but they were smaller storms,” he said.

Cities began getting their crews ready the week before the storm.

“We started preparing as soon as the forecast showed snow,” said Banfield. By the weekend she said they were ready to go.

On Monday, Arlington crews worked 12-hour shifts clearing roadways.

At the end of the week their staff spent 162 staff hours plowing the roads and put down about 228 tons of sand/salt mixture.

For Marysville, Perrault said not much plowing was necessary.

“The quantity of the snowfall means there wasn’t much to push around,” he said. “For us it has primarily been salting and sanding."

Perrault estimated about 85 to 90 tons of material were used throughout the week.

Each city had a couple of traffic accidents, although no major collisions.

Arlington had about three or four accidents that were likely related to the weather, said Banfield.

“Based on that number we believe people were avoiding driving, which we are thankful for,” she said.

Marysville also had a couple of fender benders, although nothing significant, said Perrault.

“We did have some minor collisions in the north and the southeast neighborhoods,” he said. “I suspect those were your typical collisions from people not adjusting to the conditions.”

The Arlington School District closed their schools for two days and had two late starts while the Marysville School District closed once and had two late starts.

Arlington schools also made some changes to some of their bus routes.

“That was due to the different amounts of snow the areas of our district received,” said Gary Sabol, director of communications with the Arlington School District.

Both districts have make-up days built into their school calendars, although the ultimate decision of how those days will be made up is for the school boards.

“It’s really early in the season so we don’t know how the board will decide yet,” said Sabol. “That decision will be made clearer in May by the board."

“Right now we’ll only need to use one of those makeup days if we don’t have any additional closures this year,” said Marysville Superintendent Jason Thompson.

He said snow days are always difficult calls to make.

“Snow day decisions are probably one of the biggest challenges of a superintendent,” he said.

“We have to make sure students are safe,” he said.

There are many people on both sides of the issue, said Thompson. “Whatever you decide, there are going to be people who disagree,” he said.

Thompson added he understands it can be a burden for families as well.

“It interrupts people’s schedules, and getting childcare is not easy for a lot of people,” he said.

Sabol wanted to thank families and staff for their patience.

“We know it’s a hardship for our families and we don’t make these decisions lightly,” he said.