[Article by contributing writer Ryan Porter, who also owns Snoqualmie Weather. You can also keep up with his local weather forecasts on his website or on Twitter.]
Windy Saturday into Sunday... Higher confidence that a Low will move into proximity off the coast Saturday setting up an East-to-West pressure gradient that should kick up howling Cascade gap winds later Saturday into Sunday morning, at the peak of it probably gusting 40-50 mph at times in the Snoqualmie/North Bend vicinity.
Possible light snow Sunday, but more likely to just remain dry vs. Puget Sound…Incoming moisture from the southwest over the cold air already in place is often a recipe for snow, however Western Washington is only expected to get grazed with precipitation Sunday, with the brunt remaining offshore of the Oregon coast. Southwest WA, parts of Kitsap County and even the I-5 corridor (including Seattle) may see brief accumulations before turning to rain.
Out here, we’re higher in elevation and we generally get more precipitation, so better chance for us to see the white stuff, right? Not likely this time around. I’d estimate the East Puget sound foothills have an even lower chance Sunday at seeing brief accumulations as these lower altitude gap winds have an evaporative snow-eating effect. Maybe some flurries or a sprinkle.
Mountain passes aren’t expected to pickup a whole lot of snow given this is a rather weak disturbance overall, maybe 2-4″. Once again you can see we’re on the fringe, but the GFS model doesn’t factor in our gap winds well, so I’d march back some of the color shadings to the east somewhat and perhaps add to the totals on the eastern side of the Olympics.
Otherwise, we should remain dry until at least Wednesday. Let’s hope December and beyond doesn’t stay as dry as November. I’m trying to get my whole family to ski this year!
