SEATTLE - Some rainy areas this morning will be gone by the afternoon. High temps only in the mid 40s, which is cooler than normal for this time of year.
As the weather system giving us showers moves down into Oregon, we start seeing some sun peeking out from north to south later today. Colder air is moving in from the north over the next few days. Areas that clear out tonight will end up seeing temps getting cold overnight with some places being frosty and frozen.
That colder air will be with us for the next 7-9 days. If you like the dry and cold weather pattern, you're in luck. We'll see some frosty and frozen mornings on Friday and Saturday, but the afternoons look like some fantastic amounts of winter sunshine where the fog evaporates.
With the cold air in place, we're watching a few weather systems roll through that could deliver some precipication. Depending on time of day, location, and elevation around Western Washington-- it could be a rain/snow mix or a cold rain. Precipitation arrives Saturday night as cold rain for most of us.
Let's break down our Futurecast models and step you through the day on Sunday. 7AM: it looks like the pink colors indicating some rain/snow mix will be found in parts of the South Sound, lowlands of Whatcom & Skagit counties, and away from the water in Snohomish County. Foohills communities and mountains see sticking snow.
3PM: We warm up during the day to the low 40s. Any places seeing rain/snow mix or light snow see all rain. Watching closely where that rain/snow line sets up north towards Skagit and Whatcom counties. This area stays colder longer because of cold air that comes from the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia. More snow for the foothills, mountains, and Central WA.
10 PM: Night falls and temps drop-- so more snowflakes mix into the rain for parts of Lewis & Thurston Counties. Areas around Everett and NE Snohomish County also could start seeing some snow sticking to grassy areas, roofs of cars and houses, but the ground will still be too warm for a lot of sticking snow. But, temps will fall overnight to close to freezing.
5AM MONDAY: Often these computer forecast models overdue the amount of precipitation with these cold weather outbreaks-- so we'll have to wait and see if any precipitation is even around by Monday morning. But this particular model show that we'll see some of that remaining precipitation turn to all snow overnight in parts of Whatcom and Skagit counties. Everett area could end up still in the rain/snow mix area. All rain for most King County locations, except perhaps places east of Bellevue on the Sammamish plateau. During the day on Monday we'll end up with temps in the low 40s.
5PM MONDAY: Colder air is often drier air, so not a whole lot of moisture left as we get into the afternoon will be rain showers and not likely snow showers.
We'll be in this colder air mass through the middle of the week. So any additional precipitation could be rain/snow or snow showers for the lowlands. We'll know more as we get closer. -Tim Joyce