Chance of snow in Puget Sound lowlands this weekend
Feb 21, 2014, 5:42 AM | Updated: 10:05 pm
The National Weather Service says there’s a chance of weekend snow in the Puget Sound lowlands, including the Seattle area.
“We’ll see increasing showers spreading down from the north during the day [Saturday], there could be a rain, snow mix primarily north of Everett as some of that cool air comes out of the interior of Canada,” says KING 5 Meteorologist Rich Marriott.
Forecasters say snow is most likely in Whatcom and San Juan counties Saturday afternoon and Sunday and possibly from the north coast, Strait of Juan de Fuca and into the central Puget Sound region.
The National Weather Service says the best chance for any accumulation is on Sunday, but there “is a great deal of uncertainty in the forecast.” The NWS says some computer models suggest it’ll be too warm for snow this weekend.
Marriott says accumulations will primarily be north of Snohomish County and in higher foothills around the Puget Sound area. It’s too early to tell how much accumulation we’ll see, but Marriott says it could be a couple of inches of wet snow.
In the Cascades, another foot of snow could fall over the weekend. The mountains have been getting hammered for a week now. It’s great for skiers, if they can actually get to the slopes, but not so great for drivers who have been stuck off and on at the passes all week.
Jeff Adamson, with the Washington State Department of Transportation, puts the recent snowfall into perspective:
“We went from being 100 inches below our normal snow levels to Friday morning, we’re at 304 inches and that is just about dead on for average.”
And that happened in a week. A full season’s worth of snow in seven days. That’s why the avalanche danger has been so high and why the state has had to close the passes so often.
Forecasters expect quieter weather next week in Washington.
“As we hit Monday, the showers should wrap up,” says Marriott. “Next week looks quiet with a few raindrops mixed in with a little bit of sunshine.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
