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More four letter words on the way.  Snow. Cold. Wind. Rain.  Mug refills, too.  Ready?  Lots of detail to sip through.

 

Plenty of beautiful snowscapes this holiday weekend.  We received 4” here in Albany area; others had more of The White.  The Fraser Arctic Outflow has been brutal, with wind chills below zero, snow drifts reported as high as 6 feet in areas north of Bellingham.  Cold temps will continue to drop even lower as the week progresses, esp for Oregon, as that modified Arctic air seeps south.  More —

 

Snow.  A system is rapidly moving down the BC coast, returning light snow to the region again.  Most of the snowfall tonight & Tue will be over Oregon & portions of SW WA.  A couple of inches are possible; higher amounts likely south of Salem.  A repeat is possible starting over NW WA / Vancouver BC, spreading south through Thu, with wider area of steady snow likely; the Puget Sound has a real chance to get hammered with a dose of The White.  This system may bring a southerly ’tongue’ of warmer air aloft, so freezing level briefly rise, mainly over portions of western OR, hence less of a major snow threat.  Still, your WxCafe expects most areas will receive more snow, at times into Fri.  

 

New Year’s Day could usher in a dusting of snow over western WA, north of Portland.  Messy mix of snow, snow/rain mix, or freezing rain for large areas of the PNW as first weekend of 2022 progresses.  It’s early to forecast this, but the storm charting for Sunday & Monday Jan 2,3 could be a real tough one, with all kinds of travel issues.  Lastly, more snow possible next week & again (long-view right now) around the 8th for NW WA, all by the 9th and 10th.   Winter.

 

Cold.  Coldest periods out of the next 10 days looks to be middle of this week, Wed & Thu Jan 5,6 next week, and Sun-Wed, Jan 9-12.  Any daytime thaw will quickly refreeze.  Snow on top of a sheet of ice makes for dangerous transport, by car or foot.  Don’t space out on this.

 

Wind.  The Fraser Outflow event will subside a bit over the next couple of days, then restart, although to a lesser degree.  We see renewed Outflows on/off between now & Jan 13.  Each will draw cold, interior Canadian air into the NW corner of WA & BC.  Similarly for the Columbia River Gorge - expect east wind to pick up this week, next weekend and again by Jan 11 or 12th.  

 

Rain.  Yes, we still see normal PNW rains returning, which could be quite heavy at times, later in our forecast period.  Even then, if the cold air returns, snow will be mixed in at times, as well.  Too early to pin down, but overall plenty of “precipitation” will reach the ground as snow or rain over the next 2 weeks.  We may hear about Atmospheric Rivers, too.

 

Please pardon the excess use of numbers & dates presented here.  Confusing on first read.  Bottom line - there’s a lot of winter weather on the charts for the PNW as 2021 ends and the New Year begins.  Keep safe, and enjoy The White.