That wind overnight gusted to 33.3 mph here in Maple Leaf, between 4 and 5 a.m.

As it happens, that’s exactly the wind gusts predicted here for Sunday evening - steady south-southeast wind at 18 mph with gusts to 33 mph. And a 90% chance of rain.

The last time we remember winds of that speed was last March, when they came with the added attraction of hail.

PS: 2 1/2 inches in the Maple Leaf Life rain gauge this a.m.

Apparently snow, ice and below-freezing temperatures are good influences on criminals.

At right is the police crime map for the past week, since snow started falling last Saturday, Jan. 14.

That’s a home burglary and a commercial burglary in the middle, a couple of shopliftings at the top, and a car prowl at the bottom.

By comparison, the map for the previous week is below.

This also happened in November of 2010, when we wrote “it appears nobody wants to be a burglar when it’s 20 degrees out and very easy to track your footsteps in the snow.”

The map comparison isn’t exact. It can take a while for police reports to show up on the map, so there are almost certainly crimes that we’re not aware of.

One we do know about, and don’t see on either map, is an apartment break-in near Northeast 88th Street and Roosevelt Way.

It occurred on Friday, January 13, probably between 8 a.m and noon. The front door was damaged.

There was also a scary moment on Wednesday night, January 11, when a home owner in the 900o block of Fifth Avenue Northeast called 911 to report finding an unknown man inside his home.

According to the police report:

He arrived home around1230 hrs today and got into the shower. Shortly after starting his shower he heard a loud crashing sound, he got out to investigate. He stepped outside the bathroom, as he glanced towards the kitchen he saw an unknown W/M standing in middle of the kitchen. The male was described as possibly white or mixed race (olive complexion), 6’2″ tall, clean shaven, around 200lbs, wearing blue jeans, blue jacket, and had on white tennis shoes.

The homeowner yelled at the man, who ran out his kitchen door and into the backyard, shouting “I’m going to kill you,” according to the report. The suspect then got into a gray 1990s Honda Accord and drove off down an alley, police said.

The Maple Leaf Brewery is not to be, at least, not now.

You remember the Maple Leaf Brewery? Buried now under several feet of snow posts, last week’s community discussion of the possible brewery generated 91 comments. So far.

Comment No. 91 is from the potential owners/brewers, Monica and Kevin:

Thanks, all, for your great feedback and support. After a lot of thought and hard number-crunching, we decided against leasing the warehouse space at 94th and Roosevelt. It was a difficult decision given the overwhelming positive commentary from the neighborhood, and given our dream of building Maple Leaf’s first brewery and community beer garden.

We are still very much interested in creating, or co-creating, the Maple Leaf Brewery and tasting room, and will be on the lookout for properties that make financial sense for this, as well as people who might be willing to partner with us to make this happen in some form.

The sun, seen here through the branches of one of Maple Leaf’s heritage trees, made a brief appearance late this morning. Then came the rain.

Skier at the Maple Leaf Community Garden, around noon.

——————————————-

It’s 34 degrees outside at 8 a.m., and rising through the day. In fact, there are no freezing temperatures in the National Weather Service forecast.

It’s still a mess out there, though. The arterials are pretty good - but the snow on sidewalks and side streets is compacted and slipperier than Thursday. There’s a community council road report here.

No residential garbage collection today and only limited commercial service.

Road conditions permitting, garbage, recycling, and food/yard waste service will resume tomorrow — with customers scheduled for pickup today collected Saturday.

If your materials are not picked up, please put them out on your next regularly scheduled pickup day. Missed customers will be allowed to set out double their normal amount of garbage, recycling and yard waste at no additional charge.

Oh, and the city wants YOUR help clearing storm drains. Video here.

And look, the Seattle Times found our igloo!

The sun, seen here through the branches of one of Maple Leaf’s heritage trees, made a brief appearance late this morning. Then came the rain.

Skier at the Maple Leaf Community Garden, around noon.

——————————————-

It’s 34 degrees outside at 8 a.m., and rising through the day. In fact, there are no freezing temperatures in the National Weather Service forecast.

It’s still a mess out there, though. The arterials are pretty good - but the snow on sidewalks and side streets is compacted and slipperier than Thursday. There’s a community council road report here.

No residential garbage collection today and only limited commercial service.

Road conditions permitting, garbage, recycling, and food/yard waste service will resume tomorrow — with customers scheduled for pickup today collected Saturday.

If your materials are not picked up, please put them out on your next regularly scheduled pickup day. Missed customers will be allowed to set out double their normal amount of garbage, recycling and yard waste at no additional charge.

Oh, and the city wants YOUR help clearing storm drains. Video here.

And look, the Seattle Times found our igloo!

3 p.m.: 1.5 inches of snow have fallen on top of the ice today, for a total storm total topping 7 inches.

City urges residents to get home before dark.

2 p.m.: National Weather Service issues Winter Weather Advisory until 4 a.m. Friday.

Noon: We now have a half-inch of new snow atop the ice atop the old snow.

Cliff Mass has posted: “Well folks, this is not my profession’s finest hour.”

Roosevelt Way Northeast at Northeast 88th Street at noon.

Traffic is light, but moving readily on both arterials and side streets. The Maple Leaf Community Council, though, has posted on Facebook that roads are in the worst condition since the the snow started.

KIRO-TV has set up shop at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 95th Street and is using the snow on the hood of Kristine’s Honda Civic to show conditions. (Thanks for the photo, Kristine!)

Igloo at Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 94th Street, by Café Piccolo.

9:30 a.m.: Maple Leaf has a quarter-inch of ice on top of a half-foot of old snow. And it’s now snowing steadily.

Icy limbs over power lines.

8:45 a.m.: Local road update on the Maple Leaf Community Council’s Facebook page. Bottom line - ice.

Maple Leaf Ace Hardware: “We are CURRENTLY CLOSED due to the extraordinarily icy conditions. We are waiting to see how things develop before deciding whether to open.”

11 a.m.: One Two Sea-Tac runways now open. But massive delays.

5:45 a.m. The three runways at Sea-Tac airport are closed because of the icy conditions.

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning until noon 2 p.m.:

ICE ACCUMULATIONS…ICE ACCUMULATIONS TWO TO FOUR TENTHS OF AN

INCH THIS MORNING. MAIN IMPACT…TRAVEL WILL BE SEVERELY IMPACTED.

POWER OUTAGES ARE LIKELY.

Seattle Public Libraries are closed today due to the extreme weather conditions.

Metro continues on weather routes. Check this site for changes to your bus route.

See snow plow routes here.

Live traffic cams here.

Garbage collection has been postponed by at least a day.

From Cliff Mass this morning: “Over the past day and particularly this morning, something relatively unusual and, quite frankly, dangerous is going on outside-a freezing rain/sleet storm.”

3 p.m.: 1.5 inches of snow have fallen on top of the ice today, for a total storm total topping 7 inches.

City urges residents to get home before dark.

2 p.m.: National Weather Service issues Winter Weather Advisory until 4 a.m. Friday.

Noon: We now have a half-inch of new snow atop the ice atop the old snow.

Cliff Mass has posted: “Well folks, this is not my profession’s finest hour.”

Roosevelt Way Northeast at Northeast 88th Street at noon.

Traffic is light, but moving readily on both arterials and side streets. The Maple Leaf Community Council, though, has posted on Facebook that roads are in the worst condition since the the snow started.

KIRO-TV has set up shop at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 95th Street and is using the snow on the hood of Kristine’s Honda Civic to show conditions. (Thanks for the photo, Kristine!)

Igloo at Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 94th Street, by Café Piccolo.

9:30 a.m.: Maple Leaf has a quarter-inch of ice on top of a half-foot of old snow. And it’s now snowing steadily.

Icy limbs over power lines.

8:45 a.m.: Local road update on the Maple Leaf Community Council’s Facebook page. Bottom line - ice.

Maple Leaf Ace Hardware: “We are CURRENTLY CLOSED due to the extraordinarily icy conditions. We are waiting to see how things develop before deciding whether to open.”

11 a.m.: One Two Sea-Tac runways now open. But massive delays.

5:45 a.m. The three runways at Sea-Tac airport are closed because of the icy conditions.

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning until noon 2 p.m.:

ICE ACCUMULATIONS…ICE ACCUMULATIONS TWO TO FOUR TENTHS OF AN

INCH THIS MORNING. MAIN IMPACT…TRAVEL WILL BE SEVERELY IMPACTED.

POWER OUTAGES ARE LIKELY.

Seattle Public Libraries are closed today due to the extreme weather conditions.

Metro continues on weather routes. Check this site for changes to your bus route.

See snow plow routes here.

Live traffic cams here.

Garbage collection has been postponed by at least a day.

From Cliff Mass this morning: “Over the past day and particularly this morning, something relatively unusual and, quite frankly, dangerous is going on outside-a freezing rain/sleet storm.”

At 2:30 p.m. it’s still snowing lightly in Maple Leaf, but the storm is winding down.

The side streets are full of people, not cars. (We traveled by x-country ski.)

Updates: Cloud City Coffee is closing at 4 p.m., Reckless Video at 8 p.m. The Roosevelt Ale House and the Maple Leaf Grill are open. The Snappy Dragon is closed.

15th Avenue Northeast at Northeast 88th Street, 2 p.m.

This Maple Leaf Life co-editor’s car is staying in the garage today, but a trek down to Northgate found that for many of the area’s retail and food establishments, it’s business as usual. If you can get there.

The journey begins on a snowy Roosevelt Way Northeast, with just a Porsche (seriously?) braving the road on my watch.

Although many of Maple Leaf’s side roads are too snowy for cars, they’re perfect for sledders!

Hardly a tire track or a footprint on Northeast 98th Street (heading toward Fifth Avenue Northeast) at 9:15 a.m.

But plenty of cars and buses were braving the hills (with success) on Fifth Avenue.

And amid all of the snowy chaos is beauty. Even the “Bad Buoys” in Thornton Creek are covered in snow!

Fun for dogs (and dog walkers), too! [Read more →]

Update 12:20 p.m.: A.W. Hoss & Son and COA Mexican Eatery & Tequileria have checked in on our Facebook page. Susie Hoss says they are one of the few places open on Roosevelt Way Northeast, and Edgar Carreon says COA will open at 4 p.m.

Also, the mail just arrived!

11:30 a.m.: New snow now reaching 4 inches for this morning, giving us a half-foot of snow on the ground.

City plows have been through in the last hour, temporarily making it easier to get around on arterials. (Map shows plowed and sanded streets in red.)

Potentially more useful are the city’s real-time traffic cameras. Go to that website and hover over the camera icons and see what the streets are like now.

On its Facebook page, the Maple Leaf Community Council is attempting to track road conditions. Among its reports: Lots of folks standing at bus stops, but few buses. The council also Tweeted that the fire department is dealing with wires down at 2733 N.E. 92nd St.

All three of our coffee shops have reported in as open, but Maple Leaf Ace Hardware opened, then closed until Thursday. Cooper’s Alehouse says it plans to open at 2 p.m., as does the Hudson New American Public House.