Monday's winter weather could be 'very problematic' as rainstorm collides with cold air



SEATTLE -- Western Washington is preparing for another round of wintry weather that starts Sunday afternoon. 

Low pressure moving down from the north tip of Vancouver Island will start to drop along the Washington coast and track inland as the days goes along.  With cold air still in place that gives us a shot at more snow showers late this afternoon into the evening.

Not a ton of snow, but possibly several inches. Add that to what's already on the ground and we're looking at a decent pile up again.  Expect 1-3 inches for the north coast, and we could see a little more inland.



Then, we wait and brace for what looks like a bigger, stronger punch in the forecast.

Monday morning starts off mainly dry at this point, but by midday things start happening. A storm developing out of the Gulf of Alaska gives us a better shot at tallying up more snow totals across Puget Sound.  And of course, this really depends on how it tracks towards our area. Since the cold air has decided to settle into our region and call western Washington home, when the precipitation finds that air we'll really start to see the snow falling.

Image courtesy National Weather Service



But there are several ways to look at this next weather event! Some folks might see another 2-3 inches of snow, but where temperatures are a little warmer you may get just freezing rain instead of snow.

Areas to watch for in this situation: the coast from Queets south and then moving east to the southern foothills of the Cascades.

Track Seattle's winter storm response here

Places like Chehalis (a bit warmer) may only see 1-2 inches of snow, where Shelton may see 8-12 inches because of the much colder air. Seattle northward, expect anywhere from 6-8 inches, with more in the Cascade foothills and mountains.

What concerns many of us and remains to be confirmed is the exact timing and how this particular system come our way.  It almost looks like a fall rain storm moving in, but with the cold air in place, as the two collide we may see a lot of freezing rain on top of already slick conditions. This could be very problematic.  Stay tuned!



Tuesday is Election Day. We'll see a rain-snow mix at times, but mostly in the morning.

While we may dry out some on Wednesday, flurries and snow showers are likely for Valentine's Day.

As we warm up on Friday and Saturday more precipitation is likely, more of a rain-snow mix with highs trying to push towards 40.

The problem is the below normal temps for overnight. We'll still be in the 20s in most spots. If our precipitation arrives in the frozen morning, it'll be snow or freezing rain. If it arrives in the warmer afternoon, we'll deal with a mix to rain showers.

Then we'll be talking about a melt off for the lowlands, and that will happen pretty rapidly. That scenario could lead to rapid rises in our rivers.

Q13 Weather Resources