SEATTLE - While most of us slept in our warm beds last night, many others slept in cars, on sidewalks or under bridges. 

Early this morning, hundreds of volunteers took to the streets to count the number of homeless in King County.  

"You get a better sense of the conditions that people have to live under when they're living on the streets," said Tom Rasmussen, Seattle City Council. 

Hundreds of volunteers spilled out into the morning darkness around 2 a.m. Friday, climbing hills, looking under bridges and in cars, tracking down the number of people living on the streets. 

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Hundreds of volunteers hit the streets overnight Friday, tracking down the number of people living on the streets in King County.

"The more we know about what's going on in terms of the number of people who are homeless, the more we'll be able to help the people that really need help getting off the streets." 

It's the annual One Night Count of the Homeless. The number helps highlight the magnitude of the problem in King County so the community can create strategies for solving it. 

"We used to think of homelessness as a problem in downtown Seattle, and now we're finding homeless in Ballard, Shoreline, and Eastside communities that never would have thought of themselves as places for homeless to be," said Rev. Rick Reynolds, Operation Nightwatch. 

Last year, volunteers found close to 2,000 people living the streets of King County, roughly 6,000 more were staying in some sort of shelter or transitional housing. 

"I think I'd feel bad if there were just a couple hundred people found homeless," said Reynolds.  "That's still too many people homeless."  

Volunteers have returned and organizers are tallying up the numbers now.  Some volunteers expect the number to go up because this winter has been so harsh.