**Kitsap County is currently under a HIGH WIND WATCH
from late Sunday afternoon to Monday morning.
Click here for more information**
**UPDATED 1:00 PM: Snow continues to fall along the Hood
Canal and mix with rain in the Central Kitsap area. As you can see
from the above picture, there are select portions of Kitsap County
recording as much as 3 1/2” of wet snow!**
Whew! There are lots of things to check off the list this morning. Might as well start at ground level!
LOWLAND SNOW POTENTIAL DOESN’T END TODAY
We are VERY borderline with temperatures this morning. Most Kitsap locations are hovering just a couple degrees shy of freezing, so a mix of rain and snow or wet snow is expected through the morning, especially in the heavier showers. Highs will struggle to make it out of the 30s all day, so expect this wet and cold/borderline weather pattern to continue for a little while yet.
Several cold, moist storm systems will make their way into Western Washington for the next five days or so, and each storm has the potential to drop some nighttime/morning snow showers, perhaps with a little bit of accumulation. So here are the days that have the most likely chance of producing some rain/snow or snow showers: TONIGHT, MONDAY NIGHT, TUESDAY, TUESDAY NIGHT. The best opportunity to see any accumulation is looking like Tuesday, when highs will really struggle to warm up after Monday’s cold weather system and precipitation will be readily available. This will need closer watching, so please stay tuned to the blog.
Other than the rain/snow events over the area, there will be periods of significant rain, especially on Sunday and Wednesday of next week.
WIND
It’s always difficult to pinpoint where a storm system will track, but the current thinking is that on Sunday night into Monday, a vigorous frontal system will swing well south of our area, bringing high winds with it. The coast and north interior will be the main target, but we could experience gusts as high as 50 mph on the peninsula. Again, this will need watching. At any rate, it’ll be a stormy night!
MOUNTAIN SNOW
Ah, yes. The mountain snow pack. If you’re going to be traveling over the passes this weekend, please monitor road conditions and forecasts as it will be particularly stormy at higher elevations (I have included a link to the WSDOT site for webcams and road conditions on the right hand side bar). By midday Sunday the mountains could receive as much as 10-16” of snow, with another 1-3 feet of snow by late Monday. Conditions will be treacherous for a good part of next week in general, but this storm in particular will be the most dramatic.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Highs over the next 7 days will largely be in the 30s to low 40s. As predicted, we have entered a much cooler phase of weather and according to the long range forecast, it will continue for quite a while. I’m not seeing any dramatically cold or snowy weather in the future, but we’ll be on the fringe several times within the next couple weeks.
In the meantime, please stay safe and warm out there! Have a great day,
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
E-mail: forecastingkitsap@live.com
Still snowing here in Seabeck Heights. Just shy of an inch so far.