MOUNTAIN WEATHER FORECAST

Time and Day: 0630 Wednesday

The Snapshot:  Snow diminishing today with light snow showers lingering through the day.  More new snow is expected for the start of the weekend.

The Science

Current Observations:   5” of  8%  snow fell overnight.  The temperature profile is 27 base / 23 ridge.  The barometer has dropped to 1008 mb’s with the wind blowing 5-15mph from the west.  The satellite image has the cold front over the eastern basin with remnant snow showers falling in the mountains.   

The Forecast: With the cold front now to the east, a cool showery pattern has filled in.  Cool and relatively dry northerly flow will slowly diminish the snow showers over the next 4 or so hours as well as bring evening cold temperatures.

The next storm of interest enters the region late tomorrow night or early Friday morning.  This will have similar effects as last night’s storm with 4-6” of snow on the ground by Saturday morning. 

The Long Range: A low-pressure system will drop in from the NW on Saturday with yet more snow for Stevens Pass.   Next week is expected to starts out cold and dry.

24hr values daily 4am to 4am.

Precipitation: Today 24hr water: .25  snow: 1-3 Tomorrow’s 24hr water: .25- .5  snow: 3-6 Trend and Timing: Snow showers this morning diminishing tonight. Light snow showers tomorrow with the next wave of moisture entering the mountains early Friday morning.

Temperature: Low: 20     High: 28 Freezing level: 2500 -1500’ Trend and Timing:    Freezing levels are expected to keep falling through the day with early morning temperatures dropping into the low 20’s or upper teens tomorrow.

Winds Base: 5-10 W Ridge Top: 5-10 W Trend and Timing: Winds will be westerly and relatively light until early Friday morning when they should pick up again.