Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state had to cope with an unexpected springtime snowfall in their daily commute on Monday.
The DOE’s Hanford Site said via Twitter Monday that the 2.3 inches recorded by Leidos-led services contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) represents a new record for an April snow at the nuclear cleanup site. The prior record was one inch in 1982, according to the Twitter post.
It’s a new weather record for the @HanfordSite – meteorologists with HMIS documented 2.3 inches of snow today. This eclipsed the previous record of 1” of April snow recorded in 1982. HMIS also cleared roads for safe travel across the site as the snow fell most of the morning. pic.twitter.com/zQomH1CrBF
— Hanford Site (@HanfordSite) April 11, 2022
“HMIS also cleared roads for safe travel across the site as the snow fell most of the morning,” according to the DOE post.
“Snow coming down in Kennewick on April 11,” the Washington state Department of Ecology’s central region said via Twitter. “Just what our thirsty region can use” to beat back drought conditions.
A local newspaper, the Tri-City Herald reported the “freak snow” knocked out electric power to some homes in Washington’s Tri-Cities area.
The National Weather Service’s Tuesday forecast for Richland, Wash., calls for a slight chance of snow, but temperatures will gradually climb into the 40s.
