'Pacific Northwest needs to batten down the hatches'
By
Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Aug 7, 2020 2:35 PM EDT
AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno takes a look at the weather pattern for the U.S. in the coming week, and explains why one region needs to "batten down the hatches."
Winter may not be packing a heavy punch in some parts of the country, but one place that will be subject to plenty of cold and snow in the coming days is the Pacific Northwest.
A seemingly relentless weather pattern will cause storms to continue to roll through the northwestern United States every couple of days through mid-January. As colder air plunges south, snow and ice will lead to disruptions across parts of region, including areas near sea level along the coast.
The separation from each storm may be barely noticeable with showers likely to litter the coastal areas and snow likely to fall at varying rates over the mountains for many days -- and each storm will unleash a heavy surge of precipitation and occasional strong winds.
Major river flooding near Carnation, Washington, located east of Seattle, following rounds of heavy rain in recent weeks. (Twitter/KCSO Air Support)
The upcoming rounds of heavy rain could lead to additional flooding following recent storms. Rivers across the region, including Snoqualmie River near Carnation, Washington, are already in flood stage.
This satellite image, captured on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, shows the western United States and the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Bands of clouds over the northern Pacific show the series of storms. (NOAA/GOES-West)
One such storm will take a path farther south than its predecessors through Thursday. It will be far from a powerhouse event, but a few hours of low-elevation rain and mountain snow are expected to focus from southern Oregon to Northern California.
The bulk of the rain will extend from Medford, Oregon, to Eureka and Redding, California. Areas as far to the south as San Francisco, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo, California, can pick up a few hours of rain while showers dot the mountains north and east of Los Angeles.
Snow levels are forecast to dip to around 3,000 feet in southern Oregon and Northern California along the Interstate 5 corridor. Motorists could face wintry travel over Siskiyou Summit in Oregon into Thursday morning. A foot of snow can fall over the high country of the Cascades and Klamath mountains in southern Oregon.
A much more potent system is forecast to storm ashore late Thursday night and Friday morning and push inland later Friday and Saturday. This storm will focus farther north in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
Enough rain can fall along the coast to trigger flash flooding and mudslides. Winds are expected to be strong enough to cause isolated power outages.
Snow with the late-week storm is forecast to fall over elevations as low as several hundred feet to 2,000 feet.
"The major passes in Washington and northern Oregon will get clobbered with travel-snarling snow," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said.
From Tuesday, Jan. 7, through Saturday, Jan. 11, the high country of the Cascades and Olympics are likely to receive 2-3 feet of snow, while 1-2 feet of snow is likely to fall from the storm on Friday to Saturday alone on the passes.
An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 48 inches is forecast for the high country of the Washington Cascades and the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Winter sports enthusiasts eager to take advantage of the fresh powder are urged to monitor all avalanche advisories and heed any warnings. On Tuesday, Silver Mountain Ski Patrol reported one fatality due to an avalanche in northern Idaho. Five others were rescued with minor injuries.
In keeping with the stormy pattern in the Northwest, more storms are lining up over the northern Pacific for arrival next week and beyond. However, the storms will be colder in nature than that of this week's storms.
"Arctic air is likely to expand southwestward from British Columbia next week," Samuhel stated. "As this happens it will be easier for snow and ice to occur near sea level along the Washington and Oregon coasts as more storms drop in."
The weather may trend colder with more rounds of wintry precipitation through the middle of the month near the I- 5 corridor and the I-84 corridor along the Columbia River.
"The Pacific Northwest needs to batten down the hatches," AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno cautioned.
One to three storms may take aim at the Northwest during next week alone. With temperatures forecast to hover near freezing, the combined effect of the storms has the potential to result in substantial snow and ice for coastal areas and low-elevation interior places across Washington, Oregon and the northern tier of California.
There will be widespread snow, "not only in the mountains of Idaho and Montana as well as the Washington and Oregon Cascades, but I think we're going to see a snow threat down to the coast, which will include Seattle," Rayno said, adding that snow may extend all the way down to Portland, too.
Winter snowfall is quite variable in lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest. On average, Seattle receives about 1.5 inches of snow and sleet during January. The snowiest month on record was January 1950, when 57.2 inches of snow fell. However, there have been multiple years when only a few flakes of snow have been observed during the entire winter. No measurable snow fell during the winter of 1991-1992 in Seattle.
The details on the individual storms will unfold in the coming days.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Winter Weather
'Pacific Northwest needs to batten down the hatches'
By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Aug 7, 2020 2:35 PM EDT
AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno takes a look at the weather pattern for the U.S. in the coming week, and explains why one region needs to "batten down the hatches."
Winter may not be packing a heavy punch in some parts of the country, but one place that will be subject to plenty of cold and snow in the coming days is the Pacific Northwest.
A seemingly relentless weather pattern will cause storms to continue to roll through the northwestern United States every couple of days through mid-January. As colder air plunges south, snow and ice will lead to disruptions across parts of region, including areas near sea level along the coast.
The separation from each storm may be barely noticeable with showers likely to litter the coastal areas and snow likely to fall at varying rates over the mountains for many days -- and each storm will unleash a heavy surge of precipitation and occasional strong winds.
Major river flooding near Carnation, Washington, located east of Seattle, following rounds of heavy rain in recent weeks. (Twitter/KCSO Air Support)
The upcoming rounds of heavy rain could lead to additional flooding following recent storms. Rivers across the region, including Snoqualmie River near Carnation, Washington, are already in flood stage.
This satellite image, captured on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, shows the western United States and the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Bands of clouds over the northern Pacific show the series of storms. (NOAA/GOES-West)
One such storm will take a path farther south than its predecessors through Thursday. It will be far from a powerhouse event, but a few hours of low-elevation rain and mountain snow are expected to focus from southern Oregon to Northern California.
The bulk of the rain will extend from Medford, Oregon, to Eureka and Redding, California. Areas as far to the south as San Francisco, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo, California, can pick up a few hours of rain while showers dot the mountains north and east of Los Angeles.
Snow levels are forecast to dip to around 3,000 feet in southern Oregon and Northern California along the Interstate 5 corridor. Motorists could face wintry travel over Siskiyou Summit in Oregon into Thursday morning. A foot of snow can fall over the high country of the Cascades and Klamath mountains in southern Oregon.
A much more potent system is forecast to storm ashore late Thursday night and Friday morning and push inland later Friday and Saturday. This storm will focus farther north in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
Enough rain can fall along the coast to trigger flash flooding and mudslides. Winds are expected to be strong enough to cause isolated power outages.
Snow with the late-week storm is forecast to fall over elevations as low as several hundred feet to 2,000 feet.
"The major passes in Washington and northern Oregon will get clobbered with travel-snarling snow," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said.
From Tuesday, Jan. 7, through Saturday, Jan. 11, the high country of the Cascades and Olympics are likely to receive 2-3 feet of snow, while 1-2 feet of snow is likely to fall from the storm on Friday to Saturday alone on the passes.
An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 48 inches is forecast for the high country of the Washington Cascades and the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Winter sports enthusiasts eager to take advantage of the fresh powder are urged to monitor all avalanche advisories and heed any warnings. On Tuesday, Silver Mountain Ski Patrol reported one fatality due to an avalanche in northern Idaho. Five others were rescued with minor injuries.
In keeping with the stormy pattern in the Northwest, more storms are lining up over the northern Pacific for arrival next week and beyond. However, the storms will be colder in nature than that of this week's storms.
"Arctic air is likely to expand southwestward from British Columbia next week," Samuhel stated. "As this happens it will be easier for snow and ice to occur near sea level along the Washington and Oregon coasts as more storms drop in."
Related:
The weather may trend colder with more rounds of wintry precipitation through the middle of the month near the I- 5 corridor and the I-84 corridor along the Columbia River.
"The Pacific Northwest needs to batten down the hatches," AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno cautioned.
One to three storms may take aim at the Northwest during next week alone. With temperatures forecast to hover near freezing, the combined effect of the storms has the potential to result in substantial snow and ice for coastal areas and low-elevation interior places across Washington, Oregon and the northern tier of California.
There will be widespread snow, "not only in the mountains of Idaho and Montana as well as the Washington and Oregon Cascades, but I think we're going to see a snow threat down to the coast, which will include Seattle," Rayno said, adding that snow may extend all the way down to Portland, too.
Winter snowfall is quite variable in lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest. On average, Seattle receives about 1.5 inches of snow and sleet during January. The snowiest month on record was January 1950, when 57.2 inches of snow fell. However, there have been multiple years when only a few flakes of snow have been observed during the entire winter. No measurable snow fell during the winter of 1991-1992 in Seattle.
The details on the individual storms will unfold in the coming days.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo