Early Snow Hits the Northwest

With cold air and plenty of moisture, an early snow has blanketed parts of our region....with convective cells even bringing temporary icing to Portland and vicinity.  Blizzard conditions with winds gusting to 50 mph and feet of snow are hitting parts of Montana.

Some of the images this morning are downright...chilling.

Mission Ridge, at 4500 ft above Wenatchee,  looks like it received just under a foot by 8 AM this morning.

Paradise on Mount Rainier (around 5000 ft), perhaps an inch.

Stevens Pass at 4000 ft-- a dusting, but much more just above.

What is more notable perhaps is Spokane, which beat its daily and month snow records with a snowfall of 1.9 inches.

Here is the National Snow Analysis at 11 PM last night (in two pieces).     The higher elevations of the Cascades (above 4000 ft) got whitened, with Montana getting huge amounts on the eastern side of the Rockies due to upslope flow. There is a lot more snow now and even more later today.

The cold unstable air that swung around the low center brought some heavy showers in parts of the west, with a particularly strong cell covering the ground with soft hail in Portland, turning the ground white (see picture taken by Justin Sharp).

The radar image at 4:13 PM, when this bedlam was occurring, was impressive, with intense precipitation (red colors) around Portland.

Winds?  You bet.   With a large pressure difference down the Fraser River Valley and air jetting out to the southwest, some areas around Bellingham had gusts to 30-40 mph, with one gust hitting 43 mph.

And the northerly and northeasterly flow attending the low center, FINALLY caused the BLOB to release it warm grip from the region, with our low temperatures falling below normal.  Examining the temperatures during the past 12 weeks at Seattle (compared to the normal highs and lows), Seattle for the first time in that period had its low temperatures drop to well below normal. 

Finally, there will be plenty of new snow falling today, as shown by the UW WRF total snowfall over the next 24 h. The ridges near the eastern slopes of the Cascades will get hit hard and parts of Montana will get a foot or more. 

The heavy September rainfall, plus this rain-snow event, is a boon to our water resources going into the fall.  All Northwest wildfires have been extinguished.   But there is a sad note  regarding this wet/cold bounty:  my poor tomato plants are turning yellow and dying.   Will the green tomatoes turn red?  Time will tell.