Tomorrow and Thursday should bring very active weather to our region, including bountiful precipitation, heavy mountain snow, and gusty winds.
Local ski areas don't mince words. They are terming this "Miracle March":
But many old weather hands expected this transition, and the models have been hinting at it for a while.
First, the winds. A modest low-pressure center will make landfall on Vancouver Island, producing a strong north-south pressure difference over western Washington ( see map below)
That means strong southerly winds. Turning to the Seattle WindWatch system, the forecast maximum wind gusts will accelerate to around 40 mph over Seattle late tomorrow afternoon. Not the end of the world, but expect a few scattered power outages.
South of the low, a potent atmospheric river will approach the Northwest coast, bringing heavy precipitation.
The forecast accumulated precipitation through Saturday morning is shown below, with up to ten inches (of liquid water) in the southern Cascades. EXACTLY where it is needed most. Plenty elsewhere.
The National Weather Service has a blizzard warning out for the Cascades and Olympics, plus a wind advisory for most of western Washington.
This winter started as a lion (heavy rain and flooding), turned into a lamb, and reverted back to a lion again.
I can already hear the whining about how it NEVER stops raining here, why isn’t it spring yet, etc etc.
ReplyDeleteAfter the same people whined about drought and the thin snowpack and the terrible ski season this winter 😅
DeleteAs of this am (7:30) winds are now being upwardly predicted, with some gusts exceeding 60mph...hitting in the later afternoon. this should really mess with the commute...so glad I am retired!
ReplyDeleteThank You Cliff for your factual and "undramatic" reporting on climate issues. I am surprised the legacy press has not reported on the extent of sea ice in the Eastern Bering Sea this year, which is approaching levels not seen in many many years!! Not one mention in Alaskan or Seattle newspapers or media.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't fit the narrative.
Nothing either about the extremely cold temps in Fairbanks and in NW Canada off & on this winter. In a way I'm sorry this cold never reached down to us, because then they would HAVE to have covered it.
DeleteWhere have you been seeing coverage of the Eastern Bering Sea situation? Your comment is the first I've heard of it, and I'm curious to learn more about it. Many thanks!
DeleteCan you believe in October they were already crying about how there is no snow with that flood like a bunch of babies and when the professor told them there's still a lot of time for snow in the winter this is what he was referring to
ReplyDeletePeople were crying about not having snow in October? The big flood was in December.
DeleteI think there has been some confusion around the complaints about not enough snow. Some were concerned about water supply, but most people just wanted a good ski/snowboard season. Or whatever fun they have in the snow. This late snow doesn't help that very much.
Shorty, even with this month's new snowfall, the season will still finish out with a snowpack that is substantially below-average in Washington and throughout most of the Western US.
DeleteIt was primarily about snow pack, guaranteeing water into the late summer, let's not divert (Look a bird)
DeleteJerry...the season is hardly over..much more to come..cliff
DeleteIt NEVER stops raining here, WHY isn’t it spring yet? Etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate that it looks to be warming up quickly next week. More lowland flooding.
ReplyDeleteChecking out wind speeds and the top of chinook pass weather station had wind gust at 126mph in the 6pm hour. Still a 112mph gust at 10pm hour on 3/11!!
ReplyDeleteThose are some mighty strong winds there!
DeleteInterestingly the strongest winds were near midnight when the models already had them ebb off.
ReplyDeleteCliff, Does the European model have greater skill, compared to the US HR model, in other areas of the US and in other latitudes? Or is the western Washington predictive success anomalous and neither of the two models is better all the time?
ReplyDelete