A sudden snowstorm dumped a half foot of snow on South Whidbey Wednesday afternoon, leaving students stranded at school, drivers in ditches, and homes dark from a power outage.

Heavy snowflakes — some the size of dandelions gone to seed — began drifting down by 2 p.m. The snowstorm hit just in time for the daily commute, leaving road crews struggling to catch up as drivers navigated roads slick with snow and slush.

While weather watchers had warned that snow would fall midweek in the Puget Sound “convergence zone” — the area encompassing South Whidbey, Everett and the surrounding region — the size of the snowfall surprised many.

Late winter’s roundhouse punch was due to winds from the south that met winds blowing from the Straits of Georgia and San Juan de Fuca, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.

“When they collide, if it’s cold enough, they produce snow. And yesterday it took over you guys on Whidbey,” said NWS meteorologist Dennis Damico.

“There was lots of gradient with snow heavy in some places, others very little. Here at Sand Point there was just a trace,” he said.

The size of the snowfall varied across Whidbey Island and the region.

No snow was reported near Coupeville on Wednesday, but roughly 2 inches fell overnight in areas south of the city. About 3 inches of snow was reported in Freeland.

The extreme south end of the island appeared to take the brunt of the storm. More than 6 inches blanketed the ground in some places around Clinton and Scatchet Head.

On the mainland, 8 inches of snow was reported in Everett, while more than

10 inches of snow fell north of Mill Creek. Abut 4 inches of snow fell on Marysville and north Seattle.

People dealt with the situation as best they could.

Schools deal with it

The snowstorm began to intensify just as school was letting out for the day.

Some primary and intermediate school buses departed full of students on schedule, but the near white-out conditions had bus drivers circling back before they were far from school with students still on board. Other buses didn’t leave at all.

“We wanted to keep the students safe and warm so the decision was made to keep the younger students at the Primary School,” said Veronica Schmidt, transportation supervisor for the district.

Parents were called to the school to pick up their children. Nearly 300 students waited, some for several hours, for a ride home.

“The last child left at 6:45 p.m.,” said superintendent’s assistant Sue Terhar.

Superintendent Fred McCarthy and Dan Poolman, the district’s business manager, were called upon to rescue eight students near Langley when a bus got stuck on the side of the road near the Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club.

McCarthy and Poolman transported the students back to the school in their four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Buses carrying high school and middle school students were able to complete their routes, but the weather began to worsen as buses returned for the younger students.

Schools started two hours late on Thursday morning and on a limited transportation schedule. Bayview School started an hour late, while Whidbey Island Academy started on time.

The snow prompted the cancellation of meetings and events across the South End.

The South Whidbey High School Wind Ensemble was planning on traveling to Ellensburg for the Central Washington University’s State Wind Ensemble

Invitational. Waiting for the Falcons on the other side of the Cascades was a review board of three college band directors and a state competition the students had been spent months preparing for.

As the snow continued to fall, band director Chris Harshman said his phone and e-mail were loading up with messages from students expressing their disappointment if the trip was cancelled.

But with I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass closed and more snow on the way, it was time to pull the plug.

Harshman said the students were feeling down and out. “It was a sharp contrast from their jubilation from snow days in November,” he said. “This time they missed an experience they worked toward for months. On the positive side, I’ve learned how much these students want and need to share their music.”

The weather also cut short the start of spring sports practice.

Falcon athletic director John Patton reported that most of the school’s teams practiced inside.

“Tennis met for a short time, then sent the girls home because of the road conditions,” Patton said. “The boy’s soccer team went for a run and returned with snow stuck to their heads.”

Though all the cast made it to Whidbey Children’s Theater in Langley for the after-school rehearsal of “Our Time To Shine,” two students were late because their ride had run off the road into a ditch and they had to call a family member to come rescue them.

“I had just returned the night before from Dallas where I had been sunbathing in 72- to 80-degree weather. What a shock to wake up on Wednesday and see it snowing outside!” said Martha Murphy, WCT director.

When it came time to pick up cast members, families had trouble maneuvering the small incline in and out of the Porter Building’s parking lot. One parent arrived with her gas gauge near empty from waiting a long time at a road block on Highway 525. She had to borrow gasoline from a neighbor to get enough fuel to make it to a Freeland gas station.

Gridlock on 525

Highway 525 was a mess.

Sherrie Short lives in Maple Glen between Langley and Freeland. The neighborhood is located on a curvy road atop a hill, but the home stretch wasn’t the problem traveling on Wednesday.

It took Short’s husband Chris about 90 minutes to make the trip between the ferry in Clinton and home. He realized near Ken’s Korner that the highway traffic was not moving and detoured on back roads through Langley.

Short said the snow took her by surprise.

“I was ready to work in the yard,” she said.

Drivers who had hoped to avoid icy side roads by staying on the highway came to regret the decision. Stop-and-go traffic between Bayview and Clinton turned a 15-minute jaunt into an hour-or-longer white knuckle journey as cars slid off the road or collided with other vehicles.

At one point all traffic came to a stop when a jackknifed semi-trailer truck in Clinton blocked the highway.

“Our snow plow got stuck behind that,” said Dave Chesson, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

The thick traffic and resultant highway logjam caused trouble for state highway crews that couldn’t get past stranded cars — the State Patrol eventually arrived to escort them down the highway.

Even though crews knew the storm was coming, they were overwhelmed at times by the volume of snow. The state has two snow plows on the island, one for the north and one for the south.

“The South End got hit much harder,” Chesson said. “We pulled our north truck to go help in the south area.”

State troopers were challenged by the sheer volume of cars trying to navigate on icy Highway 525 during rush hour, Washingon State Trooper Phil Thoma said.

“Cars lost traction on the hills and we had to get the snow plows around them,” Thoma said.

Despite long back-ups south of Bayview, troopers said it could have been worse.

“It caught us by surprise a little, but nothing too bad,” Thoma said.

No major accidents were reported, but authorities reported numerous fender benders.

Brett Richter of Double R Rentals on Highway 525 in Langley had a ringside seat to the gridlock out his front door.

“One of my employees took over an hour to get here from the high school at about 3 p.m., and we could see cars backed up both ways,” Richter said.

Snowfall was lighter north of Coupeville.

At the I-COM center in Oak Harbor, which manages all 911 calls, director Tom Shaughnessy said most of the action took place between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

“There were 34 calls from the South End, a lot coming from the ferry lines in Clinton,” he said.

Shaughnessy had his own tale of woe. “It took me over four hours to drive from North Seattle to Camano Island. It was a mess at 5 mph and I suspect lots of inexperienced drivers got caught on the freeway.”

Fire District 3 officials reported a total of 14 calls throughout the evening.

Most of the calls were for vehicle accidents, but trees were also reported down on Cultus Bay Road and Blue Heron Way in Clinton, and on Lone Lake Road and Keller Road near Langley.

“There were nine minor, non-injury accidents, two trees down and several medical calls,” said Vickie Lange, spokeswoman for the district.

“The calls were were well spaced out, so we were not overwhelmed with calls coming on top of each other like in previous storms,” Lange said. “We didn’t have any serious accidents.”

Ferry travel adventures

Although there were no cancellations on either Whidbey Island ferry route, driving conditions were treacherous off the ferry up the hill in Mukilteo and in Clinton.

Ferry officials said the Mukilteo boat was running slower than usual to adjust for the slow traffic exiting the ferry in Mukilteo.

Officials said it could have been worse.

“We were contacted by the Washington State Patrol about closing the Mukilteo terminal because it was taking drivers so long to maneuver up the hill off the ferry,” said Sandra Gee, spokeswoman for Washington State Ferries.

“We did not close the terminal, instead we slowed the boat down to give drivers time to get up the hill between boats,” Gee said.

Homes lose power

Some neighborhoods in the Clinton and Scatchet Head area woke Thursday to chilly homes and no hot coffee. At 9:30 p.m. the night before, a snow-laden tree knocked a power line at Cultus Bay and Blue Heron Roads, cutting electricity to a swath of homes across the South End, according to Puget Sound Energy spokesman Roger Thompson.

“About 135 customers were affected and power was restored by 6:20 a.m.,” Thompson said.

Others caught off guard by the snow tried to adapt quickly.

Down at the Cultus Bay Nursery, the snow was a mixed blessing, according to owner Mary Fisher.

“The snow protects the low-lying plants especially if it freezes,” she said. “It acts like a mulch. But shrubs and tall trees can have their branches snap so we need to clear them off.”

The latest storm was a pale shadow compared to the combined wind and snowstorm that hit Whidbey Island in late November. That storm — the biggest in decades — left Whidbey covered in snow for days. Much of the island was without power for three days or more, and local businesses reported thousands of dollars in lost business or damaged merchandise.

Respite from the weather was much quicker in coming this go-round.

By noon on Thursday the sun was out, temperatures were rising, and the snow beat a hasty retreat. Roads started to clear and owners returned to retrieve the cars they had left at the bottom of hills or other no-go areas.

Light rain and warmer temperatures is forecast for the weekend.