Serious Snow Returns to the Washington Cascades

The snow pack in the Cascades has been a disappointment this winter, with a snow water equivalent on Wednesday morning ranging from around 60% near the Canadian border and 30% in the south Washington Cascades to a disastrous 20% over the Oregon Cascades (see graphic).  The Sierra Nevada is stuck at around 25%.

 But now the good news, the Northwest is finally going to get a decent snow dump during the next few days and I believe Snoqualmie Summit will be able to open this weekend.

Today's front has already started the process....with Cascades snos bringing Snoqualmie up to 25 inches as of 9 PM Wednesday...very close to the amounts typically associated with an opening in that pass.

A series of increasingly wet systems are forecast to move into the region during the next 5 days.  Let's look at the snow impacts.

For the next 72 h, the snow totals are stirring for anyone who loves snow play in the mountains.  Two to four feet of snow in the Olympic and north Cascades and perhaps 1-1.5 ft in Snoqualmie.  Good snow around Winthrop and Mazama.   Paradise and Crystal will get several feet.  Skiers will rejoice.

Taking a larger view for the same time period (below) shows that Whistler and mountains of southern BC will get hammered with snow and even the snow-deficient Oregon Cascades will do well.  But unfortunately, California will get little of this beneficence...which is very serious for summer water supply there..

What about the next 72 hr?--the period from 4 PM Sunday to 4 PM Tuesday.  The bounty continues over the Cascades, but California escapes the snow.

And did I mention the windstorm on Saturday, with a 980 hPa low center just going north of  us?  The weather map at 1 PM Saturday shows the story:  LOTS of isobars over the region.  Expect blizzard conditions in the passes.  If you into the mountains that day, prepare for difficult conditions (chains, food, blankets).  I would expect some avalanche control closures as well.

Fracking and Ozone

UW Professor Becky Alexander has established a page on the Microoryza crowdfunding web site that outlines her project  to understand why natural gas fracking often leads to high ozone values over snow (go here to see it). If you want to learn more about this important project and how you can help it happen, check out the web site.  She is now at 52% and will get nothing if she doesn't reach 100%.  So if you know folks interested in the fracking issue, please let them know about this.