Nasty, sloppy, windy day Saturday, possible lowland snow Sunday -- then a big chill



SEATTLE -- A big weather weekend on tap for all!

The first storm system brings rain, heavy at times, through Saturday for the coast and Puget Sound, Q13 News Meteorologist Erin Mayovsky says. Winds will pick up as well, gusting to near 50 mph at the coast and a little less inland. You will definitely feel the breezy conditions for folks around the Seattle area.

The second storm, arriving later Saturday, will pack a pretty good punch. Rain and wind again. Winds will pick up about midday. Expect gusts as high as 35-50 mph, through the Strait, most of Puget Sound and to the south. We’ll keep the Wind Advisory in play through tomorrow night about 7 p.m.

And lets not forget about the mountain snow. Travel will be tough going across all of our Washington passes. Make sure to check before venturing out. Resorts could see anywhere from 2 to 3 FEET of snow through Sunday.

"Winds will make a huge shift from o the north Saturday night, allowing very cold air into our area. This will affect our highs and lows. In fact, we will see some of the coldest overnight temps we’ve seen all winter," Mayovsky said.

With the bitter cold air mass upon us, don’t be surprised if you wake up to some early morning snow on Sunday. There won’t be much, but we could see trace to 2 inches in some spots with the snow level way down near 500 feet. Areas to keep an eye on are: Port Angeles, Bremerton, Hood Canal, Shelton and further south.

We also will see a little snow in parts of western Skagit and Whatcom counties as well as Snohomish and King counties. The window of opportunity is very short-lived, starting about 3 a.m. Sunday and fading out about 10 a.m.

Track rain and snow with Q13 Interactive Radar


Bundle up though, it will be cold through midweek. Highs only in the upper 30s to low 40s, with overnights dropping into the low 20s.

 



 

SATURDAY: Really soggy. Rain will be heavy at times and breezy to windy conditions as well. WIND ADVISORIES stay up through the evening hours. WINTER STORM WARNING for the mountains. 7-14″ of new snow expected. Travel will be difficult over the passes– and with the winds, expect possible intermittent closures.



 

SUNDAY: This is the trickiest part of the forecast as a low pressure system drops down from the north. Right now the forecast models puts it right along the coast– which would deliver some a quick blast of snow to areas around Puget Sound. But, if the low strays a bit further offshore the 50-degree ocean moderates the air mass and we see rain. If the path of the low meanders further inland, the low will keep the cold temperatures– but won’t pull all that much moisture off the ocean. So, that’s a long way of saying “too soon to tell”. You’ll want to pay close attention to the forecast for the weekend.

SUNDAY NIGHT: No matter what happens on Sunday during the day, we get an Arctic blast that afternoon/evening. Temps overnight will drop to our coldest so far this winter with lows in the 20s and wind chills could be in the teens. Areas that are wet will certainly freeze overnight– and if there’s fog it will be freezing fog ,which creates the most dangerous condition on roads we have around here: black ice.

NEXT WEEK: We’ll be in this dry & cold mode for most of the week. That will mean some nice sunshine– but it will be cold with high struggling to reach 40 degrees on Monday and Tuesday. We’ll slowly warm up a few degrees each day. By Thursday we’ll finally be above freezing in the morning. Whoo!