March 5, 2017

Mountain Weather Forecast

Time and Day: 1130 Sunday

The Snapshot: Partly cloudy and cool with snow starting again Sunday night. Continued snow showers Monday.

The Science: A low pressure trough is centered over Washington currently with bands of moist, unstable air spinning in out of the Pacific. The trough will move east during the day Sunday, with westerly flow filling in behind it. Mid and upper level west flow will support good orographic snow showers Sunday night and Monday with periods of intense snowfall in convergence showers.

The Long Range: The general setup for the next 7 days looks good for continued snow events in Washington. West and northwest upper level flow with a cold pool of air in Canada and plenty of moisture streaming in should make for several rounds of moderate to heavy snow by next weekend. Currently Tuesday night/Wednesday and Friday look like some of the bigger events in a series of storms.


Precipitation Ending at 4am:

Today 24hr water = .5 Snow = 6-8”

Tomorrow’s 24hr water = .5  Snow = 6-8”

Trend and Timing:
Light snow showers should begin again Sunday afternoon, becoming moderate to heavy briefly between 1am and 7am Monday in convergence showers. Day 2 snow amounts will be part of that event.

24hr temperature ending at 4 am tomorrow: 
                                     
Low:  17   High: 29
Freezing level: 1000’

Trend and Timing:   
Daytime warming is pushing temperatures up well above freezing levels midday, but they are dropping nicely overnight the next two days.
 
24hr Winds (mph) ending at 4 am tomorrow:
Base: Variable 0-5
Ridge Top: 5-10 WSW, then 15-25 W

Trend and Timing:
 Winds should increase Sunday night and Monday morning and become more due westerly.

DV

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0800 Start Sat Jan 17th, no ABS