Updated Jan. 7, 2020 4:39 PM
Storms will continue to roll through the northwestern United States every couple of days through mid-January. As colder air plunges south, snow and ice will cause disruptions across parts of region, including areas near sea level.
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 Tuesday, Jan. 7, 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 from Wednesday night to 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 Portland to Eugene and Medford, Oregon, and Eureka and Redding, California. Areas as far to the south as San Francisco, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo, California, can pick up a couple of showers.
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 from late Wednesday night to 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 through Saturday, 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.
In keeping with the stormy tradition 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 Interstate 5 corridor and the I-84 corridor along the Columbia River.
From 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.
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 snow measurable snow fell during the winter of 1991-1992 in Seattle.
The details on the individual storms will unfold in the coming days.
Download the free AccuWeather app to receive winter weather advisories on your mobile device. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to coverage on the AccuWeather Network.
No comments:
Post a Comment