We have all the ingredients for a light dusting of snow between midnight tonight and noon Saturday. What are those ingredients? The colder than normal air from British Columbia that could bring the snow level down to between 800 to 1,000 feet and some rain from the south, according to KPLU's weather master Cliff Mass.
This afternoon's commute should be dry and no problem, however …
“The bigger risk comes tonight. What’s going to happen is a low-pressure center is moving south of us that will be bringing in cooler air from the north. So we’re going to start seeing air pushing through the Fraser River Valley coming in from the northeast moving into the north Sound,” Mass said.
And, some of the precipitation hitting the Portland area may swing around the low-pressure center south of us and meet that cold air bringing some light snow to the southern Puget Sound.
Mass wraps it up this way on his blog:
But now the warning and why we need to stay alert. As the low goes by the temps will cool enough for snow over most of the lowlands. If the precipitation is heavier than forecast there could be considerably more snow over sections western Washington. And another warning ... the models have been consistently suggesting a strong pineapple express with very heavy rain in the mountains Tuesday/Wed. of next week. This will really mess up the snow at many of ski areas (the lower ones).
The weekly KPLU feature "Weather with Cliff Mass" airs every Friday at 9 a.m. immediately following BirdNote, and repeats twice on Friday afternoons during All Things Considered. The feature is hosted by KPLU’s Health and Science reporter Keith Seinfeld. Cliff Mass is a University of Washington Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and renowned Seattle weather prognosticator.Checkout the podcast of the show. You can also listen to a podcast of this and previous "Weather with Cliff Mass" shows.