The storm, expected to arrive with light flurries Wednesday afternoon and getting heavier by night, threatened another round of automotive nightmares and power outages.

"The snow will start midday today on the coast and then move through the rest of the Puget Sound area by early evening," said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News chief meteorologist Andy Wappler.

Some school districts announced closures for Thursday. Get the list of current school closures here.

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News meteorologist Rick Van Cise said Thursday afternoon that light snow flurries had already started on the coast and would probably hit the Seattle area as soon as 1 p.m., with 1 to 4 inches of likely for Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Olympia and their suburbs. Coastal areas like Hood Canal could see up to 6 inches of snow.

Van Cise said the snow will likely turn to rain Thursday with a chance of freezing rain early Thursday morning.

Overnight temperatures plunged into the low 20s in Western Washington and the single digits in some areas east of the Cascades.

Winter storm warnings were issued for much of the state into Thursday, with the heaviest snow in the Cascade Range.

With warmer temperatures, the National Weather Service also issued a flood watch for the combined effects of rain and melting snow in Whatcom County, just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Additional precipitation also could break the one-month record for precipitation in Seattle -- 15.33 inches -- set in December 1933, when the official reporting station was at the old downtown Federal Building. As of early Wednesday the weather service had recorded 15.26 inches at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

On Tuesday two 16-year-old boys were found dead in a garage east of Port Angeles, apparently the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Video: Storm Claims 2 Lives

They apparently had been trying to refuel a portable generator to supply electricity for the adjacent home, which lost power after a snowstorm Sunday, said Jim Borte, a spokesman for the Clallam County Sheriff's Office.

One to 3 inches of snow fell in Seattle, much of it during the Monday evening rush hour, and as much as 5 or 6 inches fell in the surrounding suburbs. Hundreds of thousands of students got a snow holiday the next day and for some, including those in Seattle, schools remained closed on Wednesday.

In the North Sound, the Snohomish County Public Utility District said it still has about 10,000 customers without power Wednesday, and predicts it will be two to three days before all power is restored.

Stanwood and Camano Island were two of the hardest hit areas, with trees weighed down with heavy snow and ice snapping and falling on power lines, blocking driveways and roadways. Slideshow: Fallen Trees Block Roads, Cut Power

On the eastside, hundreds of cars are still abandoned and covered with ice in Issaquah. Police said if vehicles are blocking the roadway, they will be towed. Local towing companies have been working overtime to respond to calls from both police and citizens looking for help. Video: Tow Trucks Working Double Time

A 60-year-old man who got out of his car following a Monday night crash on state Route 509 south of Seattle lost his legs after being hit by another vehicle that lost control, State Patrol Trooper Jeff Merrill said.

In Kent, streets were still littered Wednesday morning with cars left where drivers stopped after giving up the fight against slick, unpassable roads, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Dubois said. Kent police said there were too many abandoned cars to keep track of, but the number was in the hundreds. Video: Drivers Forced To Use Alternate Routes

Thousands of others were stuck on virtually gridlocked streets and highways for hours Monday night. Some football fans reported spending eight hours or more getting home from the Seattle Seahawks game, while others abandoned their cars on the freeways in frustration.

Video: Sub-Freezing Temps On Eastside

The State Patrol reported 287 collisions and 166 disabled vehicles on interstate, federal and state highways in Pierce, Thurston and Lewis counties, south of Seattle, from the middle of Monday night to noon Tuesday. In King County, where Seattle is, the State Patrol received 653 calls for assistance, including 242 crashes, most of them fender-benders. In Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties there were 580 collisions Sunday and Monday, Trooper Keith Leary said.

Video: Crews Clearing Roads, Restoring Power In North Sound

State Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald said the snow surprised his staff by falling in lower elevations than expected.

"We put the de-icer down in the elevations over 500 feet and took a 'wait-and-see' in the other areas," he said. "That seemed a rational decision. The consequence was, the heaviest snowfall fell in places where we hadn't expected it to be and it fell at the worst possible time."