MOUNTAIN WEATHER FORECAST

Stevens Pass Mountain Weather Forecast

Day and Time: Wednesday 0800

The Snapshot:  Light to moderate snow showers tonight.  A short dry period is expected tomorrow with more light snow on Friday/Saturday.  Snow totals by Saturday could be in the neighborhood of = 5-10”.  Think snow.

Current Observations: It was nice of those left over convergence showers to leave a  few inches of snow on the ground.  +- 4”.  Nice.

Water equivalent for that little rain event =  3-3.5” of water.  Mnt Baker received over 9” of rain.   

Precipitation: 24hr totals = 1.02” of water, 4” of snow

 Pass temperature:  33

Winds: 5-10 WSW

Barometer:  holding at 1007mbs

Sky: Overcast with patchy fog.

Radar:  Mixed snow and rain showers moving north along the western slopes

The Forecast:  Passing snow showers with slowly falling temperatures will be the weather pattern for the remainder of the week.

Long Range: Things will begin to dry out and cool down over the weekend with a dry and cold weather persisting into next week.  

  

The Science:  The westerly flow that filled in behind the cold front yesterday kept the atmosphere relatively unstable with plenty of moisture left over.  The flow aloft is SW to NE with the main moisture band moving along the western slopes, thus no convergence zone effect.  Stevens will hopefully squeeze few inches of snow out of these passing systems over the next few days.  

The upper level flow turns northerly with complex weak low pressure systems sliding south along coastal region.  This will be the source of any moisture that Stevens Pass may or may not get.   

Long Range modeling:  A strong high pressure ridge offshore will begin to stretch up into the Gulf of Alaska over the weekend.  This will likely create a blocking effect as it drifts inland early next week. 

Values from 4am today through

 4am tomorrow.

Precipitation: Today 24hr water: .5  snow: 4-6 Tomorrow’s 24hr water: .25  snow: 2-4 Trend and Timing: A short period of snow starting after 7pm tonight with drying starting after 4am.

Temperature: Low: 30    High:34 Freezing level: 5000’ – 4000’ Trend and Timing:    Freezing levels will slowly fall today and stabilize around 4000’ tomorrow.

Winds Base: 0-5 WSW shifting E Ridge Top: 5-10 SSW shifting E Trend and Timing: The winds will shift easterly over the next 24hrs.