June 09, 2018

Snow in the Mountains this Weekend

Paradise Ranger Station at 7 AM Sunday
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After a front went by on Friday, cold, unstable air started to move into Washington State .   By Sunday the snow level will be down to approximately 4000 ft.....so at the elevation from roughly Steven Pass and above some snowflakes will be in the air, with higher elevations getting several inches.

The IR satellite image this morning shows the front over eastern WA and convective instability clouds offshore.

Not impressive by winter standards but this is June.   Friday's front brought plenty of precipitation  along the coast and north Cascades (over an inch), with a third to half inch  in the rest of the Cascades.


The forecast for temperatures, wind, and humidity at Sea-Tac (see plot below, time is in UTC on axis, y axis is height in pressure)) shows the freezing level (solid red line), dropping to roughly 870 hPa pressure (about 5000 ft).  The snow level can be 1000 ft below the freezing level, so the snow level could head down to around 4000 ft.
The latest high-resolution WRF snowfall (not necessarily accumulation) show extensive snow above 4000 ft...and most of that will occur on Sunday.  On the higher peaks (above 6500 ft), there could be as much as a foot of the white stuff.


So if you are going into the mountains, be prepared for cool, showery and occasionally snowy weather.  Doesn't look to pleasant at Paradise on Mount Rainier:




8 comments:

  1. So global cooling. I think you owe it to humanity, regardless of funding, to speak to the ice age we are entering rather than Al's man made global warming fraud. People will know soon enough anyways.

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  2. I fully agree. The climate is changing but not according to Al who said we will never see snow again. The Jet stream is shifting and the sun is Quite. Temps are dropping and we are entering the end of the warm cycle and into a long term cooling

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  3. How has Cliff's (initially) humble little weather blog turned into an angry commenting forum for climate change spooks from both sides to get their rocks off on one another? I come here to read about interesting weather phenomena and occasional local forecasts/summaries. Then I read the comments and can't help but shaking my head in one massive WTF sigh...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Always some denialist troll commenting whenever an unseasonal weather event occurs. They should apologize on every day that the high temp exceeds the average for the day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So, as the previous commenters have clearly said, it's going to snow all the time now. Likely glaciers are returning to cover everything as the next Ice Age begins. Global Cooling is now proven, which is obvious given this weekend's weather, which of course predicts all of the future.

    And then when it's hotter than average again (as it will be soon -- like next month), the opposite side's supporters come out and tell us we're going to dry up and blow away during the next few years as we fry in the charred landscape and heat.

    Sometimes I'm glad I'm old. I was very fortunate to grow up in an era when science was respected, when a STEM education was the path to knowledge and prosperity, and when people tried to understand things and not predict the future with their gut or their agenda. I'm getting nostalgic already.

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  6. This is the coolest late spring in years.

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  7. Ad hominem attacks everywhere. Spooks, trolls...perhaps just being a witness to the coming future will be enough for people. Coolest late spring in years??? Yep, by far, of course it's just a symptom of all of the CO2 we emit as carbon based life forms. If we all stop driving, we'll save the planet from total peril. Geez. I'm just enjoying the ride and when the crop failures go through the roof and it hits everyone's pocket, they'll actually begin to pay mind. Can we say, crop failures much? Observe you ole' Ad Hominem attackers.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cliff - Go check out the UW 8 hour doppler loop right now...

    Wet everywhere this morning. Doppler showing significant a.m. precip over Seatac (and the entire region) running over 5 hours.

    Current Measured: UW = .18" precip; Seatac = .02" precip

    This is the 3rd time going back to May the doppler shows protracted (3+ hours) precip over seatac with virtually zero precip reported... while every other measuring site picks up significant amounts consistent with the doppler visual over those sites.

    Happens once it's odd but probably explainable. How is a pattern like this explainable?

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Please make sure your comments are civil. Name calling and personal attacks are not appropriate.

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