Blizzard warnings in Seattle? No, but it sure looked that way
News of an impeding wind event has been prevalent for a few days, but a blizzard?
We had reports from several people around the Puget Sound area that their cell phones and computers chirped (or in some cases, blared) to life Sunday afternoon with ominous alerts of a blizzard warning issued for their area.
The blizzard warning is real, but unless you live in the mountains, it was not for "their area."
The National Weather Service issued a very rare blizzard warning for the central Cascades and Olympics from 6 p.m. Sunday through 6 p.m Monday. It's a very serious situation and that urgent level of weather warning meets criteria for alerts to get sent out.
However, many times those text alerts are county-based. It works well in the Midwest and South when, for example, a tornado warning or flash flood warning issued for a county requires everyone in the county to take note.
But here, our counties span metro areas and mountainous areas. King County houses Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass. So when this blizzard warning was issued for the King County portion of the Cascades, it likely got sent out across King County. We also had reports of people in Hoquiam getting the Blizzard Warning meant for the Olympics.
Blizzard warnings are issued when heavy snow is expected in combination with winds over 35 mph. The last one I can remember around here was during the 2008 winter storms (I think it was Dec. 20 in Enumclaw).
In this current case, whiteout conditions are likely across Snoqualmie and Stevens Passes Sunday night into Monday. As for Seattle and the Puget Sound lowlands, we do have the risk of some snow showers late Monday or early Tuesday, especially in the Convergence Zone areas of North Seattle and south Snohomish County.
It certainly won't be a blizzard, but for those around here not used to the snow, it just might seem like it :)
Wondering which carriers all of you have that got the alerts, LOL. A few workers got the alerts and I think they have Verizon. I didn't get the alert, I am in pierce county & have T-Mobile. Quite a few with iphones also got the alert. Coincidence? I think not.
We live in the Lakewood south of Tacoma, and my youngest daughter and I got this text message. No blaring sound, but even on vibrate, hers still woke her up at  5 a.m., almost 2 hours sooner than needed.I agree, this system is horrible.Â
I am outraged, even though absolutely nothing came of this except for maybe an embarrassed agency, but nonetheless, I am outraged!
It was sent by mayor mcshwinn. So i went to dairy queen and got a blizzard.
Man there are so many whiners on here... sheesh ... some folks need to learn to relax | this little thing is great chat around the water cooler on a Monday anyway...
There is no excuse for sending a false report to two million people. Every local weather forecaster knew it was false, but the Weather Emergency source didn't even ask. Please put Weather Emergency on my do-not-call list.
 @krog it is not a false... if you cannot connect the dots and need us to tell you the obvious by reading the alert there is no help for ya...
As usual, the NW is full of a bunch of whiners...turn your phone to SILENT overnight and it won't make a peep. I wasn't woken up once!
 @BluefireJaguar The newest iOS will override any settings on your phone for an emergency weather alert.Â
@BluefireJaguar My phone was on silent overnight and the blaring emergency sound still blasted through at 5am and woke me up. Sounds like there is an emergency override in some situations.
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The problem with this is some people keep their phones on for ACTUAL emergencies. You know.. when someone is dying or there is a REAL blizzard. @BluefireJaguarÂ
To everybody who changed plans to avoid the blizzard, and their families, I'm glad you aren't freezing in your car in a ravine or a popsicle on cross country skis. Just ignore everybody else. Hoping I don't see a news article about a search for a someone who didn't get the message.
 @dontneedheels So the thousands of people who were sleep deprived and driving in this morning's awful weather were not an issue? People check the weather if their driving over the pass. I don't know anyone who doesn't.People also expect to get sleep without a blaring warning in the middle of the night. I'm more afraid of sleep deprived bus drivers, road crews, doctors, nurses, teachers, and other drivers than I am of people not checking the weather before driving over the pass.Not everyone even got this text message so it's not like it was affective in anything but causing people worry and loss of sleep.
It is asinine. I got 8 messages or so yesterday, Woke up 5am from the High Wind alert (at least it applies to me) but along with the freaking emergency sound. Got 2 more text with emergency sound on the way to work at 8 about the blizzard again.
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I DON'T want freaking emergency sound unless the radio or TV are also doing them.
 @1000 You can turn your phone on silent overnight so you don't get the noise you know....
 @BluefireJaguar  @1000 If you have an iPhone, turning it on silent won't stop an emergency weather alert from blaring out of the speakers.Â
 @BluefireJaguar You are right. I should have known that false alarm will be happening and turn off my phone at night, or day and miss actual real phone calls. Got it.
 @BluefireJaguar  @1000 The problem with this is some people keep their phones on for ACTUAL emergencies. You know.. when someone is dying or there is a REAL blizzard.
 @SophiaF Was not fake if you are in the area... sheesh... mine went off I switched it off and went back to bed... seriously folks if you don't want to risk this again switch your phone off... man what a bunch of whiners!
 @BluefireJaguar  @1000 So wait... vibrate is supposed to wake me for a real emergency but not NWS' fake one?
 @SophiaF  @1000 You can turn on vibrate and sound off....
I can see how wind could be impeding one's progress as they trudge against it, but I rather think Scott was blogging to a deadline minute and just forgot the "n" in impeNding wind storm. Shame on you Scott! You should never blog in a hurry! You are forgiven since you're from P.A., though. Are these alerts like the December 21st Armageddon warnings? I think so.
I don't mind getting the alert. I mind getting the alert sent to me ELEVEN TIMES over a 6 hour period.
We received a similar notice in Seattle through our iPhone at 5 a.m. this morning, waking us for NO reason, and keeping us up as we turned on KOMO news to find out what was going on. THANK YOU KOMO News for being the only Seattle news source who reported on this irresponsibly sent "emergency" alert  so that we could get back to sleep.  Did the emergency broadcast system never hear of the "boy who cried wolf"?  Next time, people won't leave their phones on in the middle of the night, rather than be subject to their disruptive false alarm. Â
 @Seattle Girl EXACTLYI turned my phone to silent after it happend. I'd rather get sleep and be snowed in then deal with that noise at 5 am again.
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 @Bubba Gunners Put away the tin foil hat. My understanding of the system is that the message is sent through the cell towers to all cell phones that are receiving signal from them. It's not a phone number list that they send to which is why some people got multiple messages, and some got messages even though they had out of state phone numbers.
I think the only blizzard around here is the blizzard of people pissed off getting the alerts! ;)
This is my first smart phone, and i didn't even know it got alerts. Great way to get startled out of a sound sleep....emergency tones going off.
That damned alarm went off at 5:00 AM.
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Thanks gov.
Woke up around 3:30am to a eerie alarm about as loud as a megaphone. I actually took this blizzard alert seriously and since I work for a school district, i'm a bit pissed off because i had hopes of some sort of snow fall (not a blizzard though). Â
I'm kind of pissed actually. As someone with severe insomnia having my phone blare me at 5am has just about ruined my entire work day. Between that and all of the wind I got no sleep. Thanks a lot for making noise in the middle of MY night.
I just got a second warning here in N. Fed Way. @ 5am (Laughing)
I know quite a few people who had their phones go off with this message but I didn't get one. That's ok though because enough people did that it got to me pretty quickly!
People's cell phones were going off like crazy at Bellevue Square. The alert sound was very unusual which made me fear the worst
It would seem that a simple "Blizzard warning for elevations above 1500 feet" or "Blizzard warning for Olympic and Cascade Ranges" or "Blizzard Warning for high elevations" would have done the trick, and would have avoided confusion. The NWS has plenty of details, why not add just a bit more to the broadcast warning message???
I live on Whidbey and received the alert as well. I'm wondering if it also has to do with the phone number you use? I've had the same Everett based cell phone number for about 10 year now........
 @hunkydorey247 I believe the cell towers send the message out to all cell phones, irregardless of the number.
 @hunkydorey247 Cant be.. I have a Nebraska number and have gotten two messages now!
We were shopping in Home Depot for a chain to ensure our generator didn't "walk away" if our power does go out. There has been a problem with that happening in our neighborhood during past windstorms. My husband overheard a lady all worked up that we are getting a blizzard in Covington. I looked at him and told him no way was it happening with our current weather predictions, it had to be for the mountains or she had misunderstood an alert.
As an avid backpacker, etc who is very used to listening to and relying upon the NWS radio broadcasts, and who knows how detailed they can be, I'm VERY disappointed and concerned by their choice in this instance. This is not something that should EVER have been broadcast to the entire county given the population dispersion. I sincerely hope they learn something from this fiasco.
How do you delete this warning? I tried, but no luck.
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@pammyrae Go to SETTINGS on your text messages and you can select what kinds of alerts you receive. At least...I can do that on my phone/service.
Our two college students with smart phones got the warning. We checked weather. com and saw no such warning for our area. We have a third child who planned to drive over the pass this evening and is now stuck in Ellensburg because the pass is closed. Hoping she can get through tomorrow in daylight.
Assuming this was not a hoax, the agency releasing messages like this should identify itself. Â The message I received showed up on the screen of my iPhone but I could not find it among my other text messages. Â Perhaps KOMO can investigate.
Thanks,
 @deckrat They did identify themselves. This system is usable only by major government agencies. In this case it was the NWS (National Weather Service).
 @deckrat "NWS" = National Weather Service
I sent out that message! my phone bill is though the roof now! your welcome (evil laugh)
But why not? I like snow.
My family all received the same message at 3:08am, and scared the heck out of all of use. We're all living in SE Wa. Must have been state wide notice??
@drysider324 Pierce county.....starting to look like state wide ha ha ha
 @drysider324No, I don't think it was statewide.  According to the article above, it sounds as if they sent it out by county. There is a blizzard warning right now for the southwest Blue Mountains. I'm assuming for the area around Bluewood Ski Resort. So if you're in Columbia County, that's probably why you received the message.Â
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http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=WAZ029&warncounty=WAC071&firewxzone=WAZ631&local_place1=&product1=Hazardous+Weather+Outlook
@mandy h @drysider324 I live in Island County (Whidbey) and received the warning too.
 @hunkydorey247*LOL*  Island County? hah, I guess I was wrong. Evidently what they said in that article wasn't quite correct either.Â