[ad_1]
It’s Valentine’s Day, and if you love *snow*, you might just receive that as your holiday gift overnight. While typically mild winter air was still in place Wednesday afternoon, cold and gusty easterly winds are now blowing through the Cascade passes, ushering colder air into the Puget Sound basin. Precipitation is rolling in tonight as well, and it will initially start as rain near sea level. Up in the Cascades, it’s already snowing at a heavy pace over White Pass, where we’ll tally up nearly a fresh foot by Thursday.
During the overnight, the temperatures–and snow level–will continue to drop. As such, most of us will see the rain start to include sleet and sloppy, wet snowflakes around midnight. In the Seattle metro area, we’ll be hard-pressed to get the snow to stick around for very long, and most of it should melt off quickly. However, cold air will linger longer on the west side of the Sound, and that will allow this slushy mid-February snow to stick around into Thursday morning. Locations on the west side of the Kitsap Peninsula and near Hood Canal will tally up 1 to 4″ of winter white by the morning commute. Communities near Shelton, Olympia, Centralia and Morton will also contend with a slippery coating of wet snow by dawn. The precipitation will have a harder time reaching into the north Sound, but if it gets there, Port Angeles and the east end of the Strait might also measure an inch or two of snow near 101.
This Valentine’s Day-night snow will melt away quickly, with highs back in the low to middle 40s by Thursday afternoon. A drier, warmer and brighter Friday will ensure this snow is a quick memory, as we’ll wrap the work week with sunshine and highs near 50.
Over the long holiday weekend, a few rain showers will roam through on Saturday, but Sunday is looking decidedly more rainy at times. We should recover with partly sunny skies for Presidents Day.
Happy Hearts Day!
Shannon
Meteorologist Shannon O’Donnell
The KOMO 4-Cast Team
Updated Wednesday Evening
[ad_2]
Source link