Winter Storm Watch for Seattle and all of western WA

[TT-SEA]

Tough call... I think you will be lucky to get accumulating snow there W13. The PSCZ could limp down there tomorrow but in a weakened state and probably as rain/snow mix.

Could be wrong... you could get some real snow. I just think you need to be near or north of I-90 and east of I-5.

[W13]

We are under a Heavy Snow Warning now.

[W13]

Well, we are east of I-5, and north of Highway 18.

The initial precip that falls before the PSCV forms will probably be in the form of snow for us, since we are sitting at a steady 33 F with a Dew Point of 28 F.

[TT-SEA]

Not in Kent.
Or even Covington / Maple Valley.

[R-Dub]

Just got back from going out for dinner, and we have snow falling at a pretty good clip, all roads are covered up here, we probably have almost 1/2" of new snow......Oh and Felton has egg on his face There hasen't even been a hint at warming up, infact temp has dropped a tad!

1/11/05 LK Goodwin WA
6:09:16 PM CURRENT
Snow
Temperature (ºF) 32.0
Humidity (%) 87.6
Wind (mph) SE 0.9
Daily Rain (") 0.00
Pressure ("Hg) 29.94
Dew Point: 29.7 ºF
Snow Depth 1.5"

[TT-SEA]

Awesome to hear.

It looked like you were getting something... just didn't know what.

[W13]

Not in Kent.
Or even Covington / Maple Valley.

Why not? We have been steady at 33 F with a 28 F Dew Point for hours now, even though the SW winds are picking up. We are colder than you, so that would be saying that you would get rain or a rain/snow mix with us.

It will be snow for us, most of the night. Just watch.

[W13]

Just got back from going out for dinner, and we have snow falling at a pretty good clip, all roads are covered up here, we probably have almost 1/2" of new snow......Oh and Felton has egg on his face There hasen't even been a hint at warming up, infact temp has dropped a tad!

1/11/05 LK Goodwin WA
6:09:16 PM CURRENT
Snow
Temperature (ºF) 32.0
Humidity (%) 87.6
Wind (mph) SE 0.9
Daily Rain (") 0.00
Pressure ("Hg) 29.94
Dew Point: 29.7 ºF
Snow Depth 1.5"

Same here, no sign of any warm up. We have been at a steady temp of 33 F and a Dew Point of 28 F for hours now.

[TT-SEA]

I hope you're right W13.

Technically you are not under a Heavy Snow Warning though.

[R-Dub]

I also forgot to say Lake Goodwin started to freeze over last night! Almost half of it froze, and was turing white where the snow was falling on the ice before dark. 2yrs in a row of having at least some ice on the lake! Last time before last year was Dec of 1998. Last time it froze hard enough I too walk on the ice was Jan of 1993. Jan of 1989 and Dec of 1990 people were out on 4 wheelers ect, thats how thick the ice was back then.

[andycottle]

Weather outlook:

Viewing todays 18z ETA and GFS...it seems that the ETA has better handel on the snow. In fact...500MB heights lower rather quickly after about 06z Thursday...516DM to 504DM by around 18z Thursday. In terms of liquid precip amounts...ETA has anywhere from .25 to .50". Thats pretty good! Bet I get DUMPED on with snow! Up at 850MB...temps appear to be near -12C. 700MB heights 2880M with humidity 70% or so, and winds soaring out of the NW at 30 - 40kts per Seattle Meteogram. Convective precip looks a bit low...again..per Seattle Meteogram. So over all in the snow situation...think me and Tim...and anyone eles in the PSCZ, will defenally get nailed with about...maybe 6, 7" worth of snow. Of course more is always a possiblity. Let us get dumped on with snow!!

Andy

[W13]

I hope you're right W13.

Technically you are not under a Heavy Snow Warning though.

The area that I live around is considered a Cascade Foothill, like last week Andy Wappler was saying for us to recieve 1-3" since Kent was a "Cascade" Foothill. Type in my zip code (98031), and you will see that we are indeed under a Heavy Snow Warning.

[TT-SEA]

W13 -here is the forecast for your zip code...


http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/index.php?zone=waz007&county=wac033&wfo=sew&dgtl=1&lat=47.408422&lon=-122.19573


No Heavy Snow Warning. But you may get lucky!!

[AnthonyC]

This is gonna be a tough forecasting night. As most know, the PSCZ is very tough to forecast and predict. How strong, where it will move and how intense the precipitation will be are many factors that play into this situation. I think people are getting their hopes up a little too high...a PSCZ doesn't bring a widespread lowland snow event. In fact, temperatures outside the zone are too warm to even support snow. So unless you're directly in the zone, you won't get snow. The few exceptions will be the north interior where cold air is trapped at the surface and the cascade foothills with good orographic lift and wet-bulb cooling. As has been reported, places in Skagit county are already seeing some light snow, but it shouldn't accumulate to more than an inch. Temperatures may slightly rise as onshore flow increases throughout the night. What seems of more concern is the possible high wind event through the Strait of Juan Defuca. I think most forecasters are overlooking this situation. Right now, NWS has wind gusts up to 30 mph. That seems a little low...with a strong onshore flow at the upper and lower parts of the atmosphere and good cold air advection behind the front, I think some places could see winds in excess of 45 mph. This will all begin once the cold front passes through Western Washington. As for the PSCZ...looks like it'll start in the cascade foothills then shift south and west...somewhere between Lynnwood and Everett. Once the onshore flow relaxes, it should continue south and east, reaching Bellevue by 6am. It will then fizzle. These are from latest forecast models. Like I said before, PSCZ are VERY hard to predict and forecast. One slight deviation could change an area's entire forecast. All in all, this is something to watch but I wouldn't get too excited about. More people will see nothing than something.

Anthony

[R-Dub]

Andy Wappler auctually mentioned my area just now when he was talking about places getting snow right now, Smokey Point is about 5 miles southeast of me right at I-5. Good to see Smokey point is getting snow also, its just about at sea level, so typically its rain down there while snow up here on the hill.

[TT-SEA]

Temperature going up fast here... 37 degrees and rising with SE winds.

I see some really strong south winds all the way up to Bellingham with 36 degrees and S23G38!!

Everett up to 35 degrees with S14.

[cloud9]

Think it will move down my way in Tulalip?

[TT-SEA]

We are mixing that cold air out

[R-Dub]

Just cloudy and breeze here at the moment. Temp up to 33.0 degrees snow hasn't started melting off the roads yet. Dew point still only at 29.7 degrees.

[TT-SEA]

Radar looks very sparse.

Only place reporting any precipitation (except on the coast) is Shelton down by Olympia with light rain and 34 degrees.