A winter storm spanning much of the Western U.S. draped Grays Harbor in snow Thursday morning, while unusually low temperatures for late February kept it around.

East Grays Harbor County saw snow mount up to four-and-a-half inches Feb. 23, with reports of 1-2 inch accumulations just east of Aberdeen, according to CoCoRaHs, a community weather reporting network.

Precipitation stopped around mid-morning Thursday and will hold off until Saturday evening, which could deliver a rain-snow mix to the Harbor, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

Wintry roads caused transportation issues Thursday morning, including multiple car crashes, and forced school closures in most Grays Harbor and Pacific counties school districts. The storm didn’t cause major power outages, according to Ian Cope, community and government relations director for Grays Harbor Public Utility District. Cope said, however, that 100 people lost power in the Central Park area Thursday morning when a car struck a service pole at around 10:15, and PUD crews were working to fix the outage.

Temperatures Thursday — and forecasts for Friday and Saturday — were unseasonably cold for late February, according to Dustin Guy, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Seattle. The typical high for Feb. 23 in Hoquiam is 50 degrees, while the typical low is 38 degrees.

“We’re talking a good 13 to 14 degrees below normal for overnight lows,” Guy said.

Temperatures held below freezing much of Thursday morning before eclipsing 32 degrees around 11:30 a.m, and reaching the forecast high of 36 degrees a little over an hour later, according to the National Weather Service Station at Bowerman Airport in Hoquiam.

At press time Thursday afternoon, the temperature was 37 degrees — which if held, would set the record for the lowest high temperature for Feb. 23. The previous record, a high of 40 degrees, was set Feb. 23, 2022.

Low temperatures Thursday evening were also projected to approach similar records, if not break them. As of press time, temperatures were forecast to reach 23 degrees Thursday evening. The record low temperature on Feb. 23 at Bowerman Airport is 24 degrees, which was set in 2018.

That’s still warmer than the coldest February temperature on record at Bowerman Airport — 13 degrees on Feb. 3, 1989. Windchill was also a factor Thursday morning, as easterly winds pushed temps into the low-to-mid teens. Wind speeds were in the mid-to-high 20s early Thursday morning, with gusts reaching 35-40 miles per hour.

Low temperatures will once again drop below freezing Friday night, but then warm slightly Saturday and following the weekend, with highs in the mid-40s and lows in the mid-30s.

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.

Clayton Franke / The Daily World Icicles formed near W 6th St. Thursday morning.