Thursday snow is more and more likely around Puget Sound

Western Washington meteorologistssay a few inches of snow could fall Thursday afternoon and into the night.

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“There’s a weak warm front moving up the coast tomorrow,” said UW climatologist Cliff Mass. “We will have cold air in place, and so, as the front approaches we are going to have some snow, before it turns to rain Friday morning.”

The National Weather Service issued a Winter Weather Advisory effective between 4 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday for Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Everett, parts of Skagit and San Juan counties, and the east lowlands. It states that the snowy weather will move up from the south through the lowlands. The NWS also issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the Olympics and Cascade mountains for Thursday at 4 p.m. through Saturday at 3 a.m. with 4-8 inches of snow in the forecast.

Related: In defense of meteorologists: Don’t get mad at forecasts

Forecasters say many locations could accumulate 1-5 inches on Thursday. The National Weather Service says some areas could get up to 12 hours of snowfall.

Communities west of Puget Sound are expected to get hit much harder than anyone else, such as the Kitsap Peninsula and the Hood Canal area.

Snow and wind

While snowfall may be less likely the further east one goes, Johnny Burg with the National Weather Service says another weather hazard will affect areas around the Cascade Mountains, such as North Bend and Enumclaw.

Strong winds up to 20-30 mph, and gusts up to 45-50 mph could sweep through those areas. Power outages are likely to occur in those areas during such a windy event.

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