Storms to parade through northwestern US with rain, mountain snow into next week
The Northwestern states will not catch a break from the storm onslaught as rounds of rain and mountain snow are expected to persist into the last days of January.
A strong Pacific jet stream aimed at the Pacific Northwest will keep storms rolling through every one to two days into early next week.
Regular commuters around the Seattle and Portland, Oregon, metro areas should anticipate times of slower travel on the major highways over the next week due to excess water on the road and blowing spray from vehicles.
Airline passengers traveling to, from or who have connections in these cities and other regional airports may face delays during their trip.
The latest round of damp weather will press inland and southward into Thursday night.
Motorists over Interstate 90’s Snoqualmie Pass and I-80’s Donner Pass will be subject to slippery travel and a heightened risk for vehicle accidents as snow falls over the Cascades and Sierra Nevada.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With 5" of new snow so far today Mt. Baker has now recorded 100 inches of new snow in the last 8 days. Other new snow totals in the last 8 days in the Cascades, Paradise on Mt. Rainier 54 inches, Snoqualmie Pass 49 inches, Alpental 48 inches and Stevens Pass 46 inches. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wawx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wawx</a></p>— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSeattle/status/956325181575782401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Fourteen inches of snow piled up over Snoqualmie Pass in 12 hours on Tuesday. Eastbound lanes of I-90 were closed for a time due to a large number of collisions.
"Siskiyou Summit, Oregon, along I-5, may receive up to a foot of snow into Friday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey said.
The storm track will shift farther north this weekend with precipitation mainly restricted to Washington and Oregon, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson.
One storm will sweep through with heavy rain along the coast and snow for the high country Friday night through Saturday, followed by another storm by Monday.
The stream of moisture poised to take aim at the Pacific Northwest this weekend and early next week will have tropical origins. Thus, rainfall intensity and amounts are likely to be higher from Saturday through Monday than compared to most of the storms so far this month.
The risk of urban, flash, small stream and river flooding will increase as each round of rain falls over saturated soil.
Rising snow levels will trigger snowmelt at intermediate elevations. The combination of rain and melting snow will elevate the threat of excessive runoff and flooding. The threat of avalanches will also increase.
Seattle will challenge its record for days with measurable rainfall during the month of January, which stands at 28. This mark was tied in 2006.
“As the storm tracks shift northward, this will give areas of Southern California additional time to clean up after the heavy rain triggered mudslides a couple weeks ago,” Adamson said.
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