A Triumph of Weather Technology, the Next Snow Events, and Power/Airport Problems
Weather prediction technology has come a huge way over the past decades and yesterday's localized snow event is a great example of how far we have come. The most difficult Northwest forecasting problem is snow prediction. And there is no harder snow problem than a situation marginal for snow and where there are very localized weather effects. Yesterday (Tuesday) was such a difficult snow situation and the high-resolution models did very well. The Forecast As I described in this blog, cold air was in place and an approaching frontal system brought general very light snow, with heavier snow over North Seattle and Snohomish counties. The models also predicted heavy snow in the Cascades, including its lower western slopes. Below is the high-resolution WRF model forecast of snowfall through 4 AM today (Wednesday) made 4 PM Monday. Light snow from downtown through Tacoma (about 3/4 inch), with heavier snowfall (peaking at 5-7 inches) from Lynwood to Everett. Heavy snow in the mountains