It did not snow in Seattle last night. Yes, school is still closed

Seattle was giddy. Double buses were pulled off routes. School was canceled, before a single flake dropped.

And then it didn’t snow. Instead, it warmed up. Here’s what happened. According to the National Weather Service, which had an overnight team tweeting out every mercurial whim of this snowstorm (or to disappointed Seattleites, a ’nostorm), the storm evolved rapidly, which “led to lower than average confidence in the near term forecast.” The weather service noted -- with a bit of an eye roll emoji -- that some snow had dusted Seattle. But instead of a band of cold weather dumping snow on Seattle and every community north of the city, the weather opted to move even farther north and away from the region. Snow did fall across the Olympic Peninsula, the Kitsap Peninsula, and areas northward. Port Angeles got 18 inches. Confidence in the Seattle snow forecast began to wane Tuesday night around 6:40 p.m., when the temperature increased to 34 degrees – not freezing.

By 9 p.m., the weather report said that Seattle was on the “southern fringe of possible accumulating snow.” We learned that there would be snow near the border with Canada (Were we supposed to cheer for them?).

Here's a quick animation of how things evolved on radar for those who are interested! #wawx pic.twitter.com/iIubIdeLow — NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) January 15, 2020

At 9:44 p.m. Seattle Public Schools sent an email/phone/text blast: No school due to possibly maybe treacherous road conditions. Some parents thanked them on Twitter for thinking of safety, while others were conspicuously annoyed:

What are your criteria for closing schools? Even in the hils there is no snow on the roads. Is there some kid stuck in a shaded alley somewhere who can’t walk out their front door? — Paul Keyes (@pkeyes) January 15, 2020