Monday, November 23, 2015

Forget the Lowland Snow or Frigid Temperatures West of the Cascade Crest

For those of you hoping for some snow near sea level, I am afraid I have some bad news...not this time.   I should note that a few media outlets are still hyping snow and cold (see below)


A weak, wimpy cold front is going through right now, one devoid of much moisture.  Some light rain has fallen over the lowlands with a dusting in the mountains.

This was never going to be a big event, but unfortunately the upper trough associated with cold front moved southward too quickly and with the wrong trajectory to give us snow.   Here is the upper level map for tomorrow at 8 AM...the trough is way past us.  Not good.

Snow over Washington and BC will be limited to the mountains and eastern WA/Oregon during next 24 hr (mainly next 12 h) and forecast totals are shown below. Max of a half foot in the mountains of Washington, but there are several inches over eastern Washington.  Lots of snow over the Oregon Cascades and northern CA...which is good.  Those poor devils need all the snow they can get.

Even the cold will disappoint west of the Cascade crest, with the real chill over eastern WA and Oregon.  Here is the low-level temperature and sea level pressure forecast for 1 AM Wednesday.  Blue is cold!  Frosty (tens to single digits) over eastern WA and REALLY cold air heading south over Montana.  Over western WA only Bellingham, the San Juans, the the sun-crazed folks in Sequim and Port Angeles will get chilled from Fraser outflow.

To illustrate the local Fraser Gap winds, here are the max gusts at 7PM Tuesday.
Gusts to 50 knots southwest of Bellingham.  The San Juans will get blasted....so if you live there make sure you are ready (flashlights, gas for barbecues, etc.).  Some power will be lost.


As we get past Wednesday a HUGE ridge of high pressure will build over the eastern Pacific, with anchoring troughs on both sides.  We call this an Omega Block for obvious reasons...looks like the Greek letter omeg.

For Thursday through Saturday expect dry conditions, lots of mid-day sun, and frost in the morning.  Enjoy.  Clouds and rain come back next week.


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