Urgent - Winter Weather message National Weather Service Seattle Wa
400 am pst wed dec 17 2008
A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for today through Thursday morning for most northern zones in Western Washington as well as the Cascades and Olympics...
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for today through Thursday morning for southern zones in Western Washington...
A frontal system will move over Western Washington from Canada today...and with a very cold air mass still over the region...snow is expected across all of Western Washington today and tonight. A cold upper level low will remain over the area Thursday.
San Juan County-Western Whatcom County-East Puget Sound lowlands-Western Skagit County-Everett and vicinity-Olympics-Eastern strait of Juan de Fuca-western Strait of Juan de Fuca-North coast-west slopes Northern Cascades and passes-west slopes central Cascades and passes-.
A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 10 am pst Thursday for most of the north part of Western Washington...as Well as the Olympics and Cascades.
In Western whatcom county...San Juan County...and Western Skagit County...2 to 5 inches of snow is likely today. Snow has already begun and will continue through this afternoon. Snow showers will continue into Wednesday night when another inch is possible. Total snow accumulation will be 2 to 6 inches.
In the Strait of Juan de Fuca area...up to 3 inches of snow is likely today. Highest accumulations will be away from the strait.Right along the strait the warmer air will produce the lowest accumulations and the snow may be mixed with rain at times.Another 1 to 3 inches of snow is expected tonight as north to northeast winds cause upslope snow to develop. Total snow accumulation will be 2 to 6 inches.
In the Everett area...2 to 5 inches of snow is likely today. Light snow has already begun and will continue through this evening before changing to snow showers. It looks like a persistent band of snow will develop this afternoon and continue through this evening that may produce heavier snow amounts...probably over the southern part
of the area. Another 2 to 3 inches may fall overnight. Total snow Accumulation will be up to 8 inches.
In the East Puget Sound lowlands including cities such as Bellevue...Issaquah...North bend...and Bonney lake...2 to 6 inches of snow are likely today. Snow flurries have already begun and heavy snow is expected after 7 am. The heaviest snow amounts will be near the Cascades...and over the north part where a persistent band of snow may develop. Another 2 to 5 inches will fall tonight. Total snow accumulation will be 4 to 10 inches.
On the North Coast...up to 4 inches of snow may accumulate today. The highest accumulations will be inland closer to the Olympics. Near the coast temperatures will be warm enough so that there may be some rain or rain and snow mixed. Another 1 to 3 Inches of snow may fall tonight...once again with highest amounts further inland. Total snow accumulations will be up to 7 inches.
In the Olympics and Cascades...one to two feet of snow snow will fall through late tonight. The highest amounts will probably be just north of or near the Stevens pass area...where a persistent band of snow is expected to develop.
Although the heavy snow will end by Thursday morning...snow showers are possible Thursday. Temperatures are unlikely to climb much above freezing on Thursday or Friday...so not much snow melt will occur.
Precautionary/preparedness actions...monitor weather forecasts and road conditions carefully. Stay indoors if at all possible.travel is likely to be adversely impacted Wednesday into Thursday and possibly longer.
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