I think we will see some more snow tonight...particularly at higher elevations. Temperatures warmed a great deal during the day, and lower elevations (less than 500 ft) generally switched to rain. Some of you at higher elevations did have snow most of the day...although it was generally the wet, sloppy variety. Anyway, the freezing level is starting to drop
due to cooler air moving in from the NW and normal nighttime cooling. Right now the snow level is between 500 and 1000 ft and will drop during the night and during intense showers--so even the lower elevations will see snow showers by morning.Looking at the satellite picture, another disturbance is making landfall...associated with an upper level trough and cool, unstable marine air (see image). You will note that the clouds are not continuous like the system earlier...because it is made up of convective showers. The radar shows the showery nature well (see radar). Because the winds in the lower atmosphere are from the SW, there is a clear rainshadow north of Seattle and extending towards Everett...greater amounts of snow will be north and south of shadow, of course.
Anyway, the snow will not be uniform....because of the showery, hit or miss nature of the precipitation...so some of you will get a few inches and others nothing. This should be the final snow chapter of this week. And most of us will be happy to be able to get around again--my family is running out of groceries! And I hope all of you have a good holiday season and a good new year.
1st! Go BSNYC!
ReplyDeleteWow, you are dedicated! 8 PM on Christmas Eve and you are updating the Blog! I am at 3500' on the nose and still getting light to moderate showers. Thank you for your dedication to this weather science. Have a great holiday tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteMark
Merry Christmas, Cliff. Thanks for all the great information during this storm, I'm hooked on your blog and will turn here first when the next storm heads in!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this latest report, Cliff. As we are about to head out for midnight Mass, it is helpful and appreciated information. Yep, a true White Christmas...
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Cliff, for your good-humored and enlightening information over the past ten lively days. It's been great to learn something while keeping track of what new surprises are in store for us all. Here in Freeland on South Whidbey we had NO snow last night, to my delight this morning, and none during today, though we had lots of wind and some rain. The depth of the existing snow shrank by about half today. I'm not sorry. A very happy Christmas to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteCliff, you're awesome! Thanks for the information! Hope you and the family have a great Christmas.
ReplyDeleteOlalla: Snow became rain around noon; it rained most of the afternoon with enough wind to make a lot of big, heavy snow masses drop out of the fir trees. Now at 9 pm it's still 35 out and we can hear water dripping everywhere. Still half a foot of slush/ice in the culdesac, more on the lawns. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete- Pete
~550ft or so, really 580ft of elevation in Sammamish, 9:30pm, Christmas Eve, we have nearly an inch of new snow.
ReplyDeleteOur earlier afternoon snow was definitely snow, not slush. We did get a bit of rain in the evening, but it's now clearly back to snow.
Merry Christmas and thank you Cliff Mass for this wonderful site.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Cliff. May you have a healthy and happy 2009.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the information... I've been reading you for a while but now I'm truly hooked. I am going to be so bummed out if my husband didn't manage to get me your book for Christmas... that and a real weather station (as opposed to this $75 3-station wireless temperature and barometer Oregon Scientific thing) are the two presents I most eagerly hope to get.
I do hope we get some more snow tomorrow for the "pretty" factor, but then it would be fine with me if the lowlands didn't see another flake until Dec 2009. Rain is fine by me... but I guess you haven't placed your order yet, so it's unclear what we'll get for the rest of the winter. ;-)
Sammamish Plateau - 32.5 light snow. When we left home at 2:30 it was snowing. Spent all afternoon and evening in Lynnwood where it was drizzling. The roads have become sloppy, rutted, slushy, dirty, messes! Coming home it rained all the way to the bottom of Sahalee. As soon as we turned up the hill it started to snow and the road became quiet because it had started to freeze. Probably received 5" today with more to look forward to tonight and tomorrow. It's still a winter wonderland here!
ReplyDeleteThanks and Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteCorrection from my previous post:
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays, rather than Merry Christmas. It's presumptive to assume that we all celebrate Christmas....
Whoops! Presumptive, um, I mean presumptuous....and I haven't even been drinking!
ReplyDeleteNewbie to this blog, thanks!
ReplyDeleteoff topic, sort of, where could i find decent 'snowfall' totals (my ruler into the driveway isn't very accurate)
thanks!
Sammamish... 10:45PM... big hurkin flakes coming down like mad. So much so that they set off my motion detector camera for catching a glimpse of the gorgeous coyote that's been hanging around lately!
ReplyDeleteHave a good holiday, Cliff and family!
ReplyDeleteNow you know why we do not live more than five blocks from a grocery store. We trekked the whole two blocks from our house to the Safeway at 5-corners at least three times this week.
Oh, and our very new outdoor thermometer sitting on our porch still in its plastic package reads 38 degrees. We are at 100 feet above sea level.
I just want 5-corners by the U-Village, Montlake, 520 westbound, I-5 southbound and the rest of the route to the airport clear at 5 am Friday morning when Peter, Terry and I head down to Disneyland.
Chris (mom to Peter, who played on the same Little League team as your younger kid)
Thanks heaps for all the incredibly accurate updates for our area in Kitsap Co. Am very impressed also with your professionalism! Have a very Merry Christmas and look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteJ-M
11:50 p.m. and it is snowing HARD in downtown Snoqualmie, just like it did all day. Cliff - you control the weather right? Please make it stop!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for all the great info and insights. Still slushy/icey here in Kent. I haven't been able to get out of my driveway for almost a week. Your blog is wonderful and obviously very appreciated--thanks again. Happy Holidays to Cliff and everyone!
ReplyDeleteMerpy Kwanhanukmas.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to everyone, regardless of when yours starts.
Great blog. Thank you.
Sammamish-Early Christmas morning-Just awoke to another round of new snow. No rain and slush up here...pure snow. Sammamish is keeping the main roads very clear, unlike downtown Redmond, which is a mess! We're able to move around up here just fine.
ReplyDeleteCliff, if you can make your way up to the Plateau, you're welcome to have dinner here. We have plenty. Merry Christmas
Thanks Cliff. My wife said she ordered me your book for Christmas but weather held it up. Ironically a book on local weather got held up by local weather. Hope you manage to get your fridge stocked up and have a great holidays.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Totem Lake got nailed. We got 2" here in 2 hrs.
ReplyDeleteNorthgate, 31 degrees. Snowing hard. Sigh. The streets around here are still a nightmare, though at least Northgate way finally cleared yesterday... Merry Christmas everyone.
ReplyDeleteSo much for your highfalutin, fancyschmancy computer models. Cliff, I want my money back. Your models have ruined Christmas, and Santa is not happy. No coastal radar for you, Cliff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for contributing to my internet addiction. You are an enabler.
East Woodinville elev 500ft
ReplyDeleteWoke up to GOBS of snow - the pile on the picnic table that has never gotten above 15 inches because of settling is up to...............21 inches!!!!! And still snowing hard. Thank you Santa, Buddha, Weather Gods, Cliff, all of you...... it looks like Dr. Seuss silly white blobs everywhere... just goofy and unbelievable. I can die now. And I just might when I try to go pick up grandma. It's 34 degrees, isn't that ominous