One More Week

Only another week of cold temps, then a return to mild conditions around the PNW.  First, though, winter has one more act to present.  All set?  Mug on.

All weather eyes on the quick shot of modified Arctic air that is set to descend into the PNW.  A cold dome of High pressure - >1040 mb - is making its way out of the interior of Canada, as we script this forecast.  Cold, very low Dew Point air, will rush out of both the Fraser & Columbia Gaps, pooling west of the Cascades (upper teens, lower 20s Wed morning).  All that will be needed is moisture.  Well, as advertised, a system will move in from the SW Wed night with enough moisture to create a real winter mess, esp in western OR.  

We will forecast SNOW - about 1" to 1.25” as probable south of Salem, before FREEZING RAIN begins topping the thin snow layer.  Commuting Thu morning and on through the day will challenge the best of drivers, so put off any road travel for a day or so, as the winter impact will be short-lived.  Snow or freezing rain highly probable up the Gorge area, as a ‘finger’ of warmer air will melt falling snow, setting up the freezing rain scenario.  HEED Nat’l Wx Service announcements - their team will be on this, for sure.

While frozen precip of some form will be the threat across the region through most of Thu, given the cold air flow out off the Gorge, we don’t see a notable threat to the Puget Sound area at this time - just cold air.  All indications are that by overnight Thu or Valentine’s Day, conditions will thaw under a light rain or showers heading into Sat Feb 15.  Sunday looks damp, with higher amounts of rain falling over western WA.  The westerly flow of air should put a full stop to frozen precip issues, excluding the Cascades and eastern basins.  Time for mild.

The week of Feb 17-21 is charting to start out with a continuation of showers from the Sunday system, then turn dry and mild for balance of the week.  A scattered shower is possible east side mid-week, but that is iffy.

The weekend of Feb 22,23 is looking really decent, for February.  Dry with temps teasing the upper 50s, esp if there is limited foggy bottoms.  Daylight is getting longer by nearly 3 minutes EVERY DAY this month.  Lovin’ it!

Rain may return during the last week of February.