Light Snow this Morning and the Warm Up Overnight. Plus, Strong Winds and Another Snow Threat....

As expected, some light snow came in this morning....a dusting for most and as much as .5-1 inches for favored locations (see below).  The roads were warm enough and the air temperatures marginal enough that the snow rapidly melted on most roadway surfaces. 

Ironically, the snow is associated with warming aloft.


The weather radar this morning around 11 AM  showed very light precipitation over the region (blue colors), with heavier precipitation offshore).


Warm air is streaming in aloft as shown by temperature sensors on aircraft taking off and leaving Seattle.  And surface temperatures are being warmed by the (weak) sun.   Don't expect any low-level snow accumulation during the day.

This warm air aloft is leading a surface warm front, which will get to the coast around 6 PM, with a cold front a few hours behind.

So there will be a few light flakes in the air today, but nothing that will be substantial.

As precipitation increases on the coast later this afternoon, the higher intensity will drive down the snow level and produce some snow around the Olympics (see 3-h totals ending 4 PM below:  rain is black and gray, snow in color).  The Kitsap will be favored as southeasterly flow rises on the eastern slopes. Rain on the coast at that time.


And then a burst of wet snow from Lynnwood to Everett around 10 PM as the frontal moves through and warm air moves in (see below).  It will all melt overnight.    And it will seem warm when you wake up tomorrow.


Disappointed?   Would you be interested in hurricane-force winds?   

Then head to NW Washington this evening.  The approaching front, interacting with the Olympic Mountains, will produce powerful southeasterly winds over Northwest Washington (see gust forecast for 7 PM tonight below).

If you take the Victoria Clipper tonight, bring your sickness bag...

Finally, I am watching the next interesting situation.  By 10 PM Wednesday ANOTHER low-pressure center will move down the coast to NW Oregon, drawing in cool air over the region again (see below).


A little too far south to bring snow to Seattle and NW Washington, but Portland and SW Washington could get some white action.  Will watch it....


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why so little lightning in the Pacific Northwest? And a very nice weekend ahead.

Image
During the past 24-hours, there have been a few lightning strokes over the region (see below) but nothing to write home about (see below). It turns out that the Pacific Northwest and the remainder of the West Coast have some of the lowest frequencies of thunderstorms in the entire country (see below). But why?    My podcast provides the answer. And I also give the weekend forecast....and I think most will like what I have to say. To listen to my podcast, use the link below or access it through your favorite podcast service. Some major podcast servers:     Like the podcast? Support on Patreon 
Read more

The Time of Year You Can See the Air Move

Image
  Most of the time, you can not see the air move.   You can feel it, but the complex, turbulent motions are invisible to you, except when it interacts with leaves and branches on trees and plants. But for a few weeks of the year, the sky is full of small, cotton-like tuffs that like a natural MRI machine reveals the complex three-dimensional motions of the atmosphere.   Cottonwood season.  And we right in the middle of it.   Being cottonwood aware is of particular value this year.  It reveals the active dispersion and movement of air that makes the outdoors essentially COVID safe, and thus should be of some comfort for those nervous about transmission outside. Cottonwood seeds are embedded in small cotton-like fibers.   A million seeds weigh about 3 pounds.  Yes, each seed and tuff weights about .000003 pounds.   And that fact, plus the cottonwood tuff, means that these seeds fall VERY, VERY, VERY slowly.   So slowly that they are excellent markers for the three-dimensional flow of the
Read more

A Much Colder Than Normal April: But How Unusual?

Image
  April was a chilly month over the Northwest, but how chilly?     It turns out the answer depends on where you are located. The difference between this April's temperatures from normal across Washington State (below) shows that the entire state was well below normal.  The eastern side of the state was particularly frigid:  some areas were more than 6 degrees below normal.   Considering the west side of the state, the April mean temperatures at SeaTac Airport are plotted below.   This April was the coolest since 2011. April 2020 was in 15th place for the coolest April since the mid-1940s and was a bit more than 4F below normal.  So if you felt that you were cheated out of normal spring warmth...you are right. But if you really wanted to experience extraordinary April cold you had to be east of the Cascade crest. Consider Yakima.  Wow.  It had the third coldest April temperature since the mid-1940s.   And the all-time record in 1955 was only slightly colder. If you want a longer-te
Read more