Snow Tonight and the the Snow Low Off Our Coast

You might call it a snow low.

Cold air is moving to the southwest across the northern BC coast and becoming unstable as it goes over warmer water, producing streaks of instability clouds that circle around the low (indicated by a red "L")

Some of the cold, Arctic air from the interior of BC is moving westward down the Fraser River Valley into Bellingham and its vicinity.   At 2 PM, it was only 25F in Bellingham and in the low 20s a few miles away.

To get a big snowstorm over western Washington, we need the low center to park just offshore of the SW Washington coast.   This pulls cold air southward over western WA and is close enough to push moisture over it.

Many of our big snow events have occurred that way.

Unfortunately, the model is moving the low too far offshore, as shown by the forecast surface map for 10 PM tonight 

There will be some snow tonight with amounts increasing with elevation.  Being at 500 or 1000 ft makes a big difference during such situations.  For example, Dr. Peter Benda measures about 5 inches of snow at around 1000 ft in Bellevue (see below).

Here is the total predicted snowfall through 4 PM Tuesday.  Mostly light amounts except where the Fraser arctic air is hitting the mountains of Vancouver Island or the north side of the Olympics. 

  

In contrast, snow depth at that time is less impressive and highly variable.

This will be one of the most sustained cold periods in years...with the cold holding out for perhaps two more weeks (see below).   Just amazingly cold.  Historic cold spell.

_____________________________

Steve Pool Scholarship Fund

We are now 65% to our goal of the $100K needed to create a permanent undergraduate scholarship in honor of Seattle's most well-known weather communicator,  the late Steve Pool.   

Please consider making a contribution (tax-deductible) to this University of Washington fund.   And thanks to the hundreds of folks who have already contributed.

Here is the info:

A Steve Pool memorial undergraduate scholarship has been established in his honor (see below)

Once funded by contributions, this new undergraduate scholarship will provide financial assistance to promising Atmospheric Sciences students, fostering the training of the next generation of meteorologists and atmospheric scientists.

If you want to contribute or learn more about Steve, check out the webpage below.   Thanks so much....cliff

https://together.uw.edu/Campaign/steve-pool