Snow and Cold Hit Northwest

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Snow and Cold Hit Northwest
4AM PST, January 7, 2004
By Andrew Kramer (Associated Press Writer)

PORTLAND, Ore. –

Roads, schools and businesses closed in parts of the Northwest on Tuesday as a storm blew in with record cold and unaccustomed snow accumulations.
Swirling snow and temperatures dipping into the teens forced Oregon State University and Western Oregon University to close, along with dozens of school districts around the state, including the large metro districts in Portland and the city`s suburbs.

Portland`s MAX light rail commuter train skidded to a stop on icy rails on some
routes, interrupting service to Portland International Airport. The city had 7
inches of snow by afternoon.

In Washington, classes were canceled for the day in Seattle and Tacoma
public schools and at Evergreen State College in Olympia and the University of
Washington`s Tacoma branch.

Seattle, which typically has mild weather moderated by marine waters, reported
a few inches of snow by afternoon. Some areas south and east of the city
received up to a foot in the most widespread snowstorm to hit western
Washington since 1996.

Police said the body of an apparently homeless woman was found Tuesday in
a parking lot at the base of Seattle`s Capitol Hill. The woman, in her early 50s,
appeared to have died of exposure

Portland had a record cold high temperature Tuesday with only 24 degrees. On
Sunday and Monday, record lows in Washington included 19 below zero at
Kennewick, 7 below at Wenatchee and 15 below at Pullman.

Temperatures were even lower in the northern Rockies, with Tuesday morning
lows of 31 below zero at Butte and Bozeman, Mont., and at Worland, Wyo., the
National Weather Service said.