Rain & Snow Return

Monday December Two

Chilly morning, so refill that Mug with your fav hot beverage and check out the latest outlook.  

Dry chilly conditions should hold until later this week, then the first chance for some precip in Dec is possible, as well as a short-shot of warmer temperatures. Currently, looks like the Puget Sound region has a higher chance for showers Thu & Fri vs the rest of the PNW, but either way, the system will be blasé.  Again, best part will be warmer temps, given the southerly flow.

The coming weekend has trended damp overnight Fri into Sat, with cooler temps and drier air moving in on Sunday as a cold front drops to the SE..  Rather wet for our Vancouver Island Patrons, and those farther north along the BC coast.  Fairly standard early December weekend. 

Next week we see a return to cool, dry conditions Mon & most of Tue.  Overnight Tue & early Wed a weak system may provide some minimal precipitation; Idaho likely to get good dose of rain on Wed Dec 4.  Regionally, cooler temps will prevail Thu & Fri (the 13th) as the coldest air of the season settles east of the Cascades and over the Continental Divide.  (Not much pressure difference between east & west sides is charting on the models, so don’t expect an east wind event.)  However, the atmospheric adjustments for December 2024 may begin to set the stage for a COLD second half of Month Twelve.  Read on.

RAIN will return with a notable Pacific storm over the weekend of Dec 14,15.  VERY cold air mass will flow down over the Gulf of Alaska from the interior, setting up the classic cold vs warm air battle - which equates to moderate-to-heavy rain, along with plenty of snow in the mountains.  In fact, we see the potential for LOW elevation SNOW around the PNW late that weekend.  We’ll monitor this closely.  We also see potential for low elevation snow or rain/snow mixed on Mon Dec 16.  

The week of Dec 16-20 is trending VERY WET early in the week.  There have been some model solutions bringing our first Arctic Outbreak into the region that week, but for now, that has changed to the more normal heavy rain, plenty of mtn snow outlook.  

Again, the overall pattern may shift into a colder one for the second half of the month.  Will snow be in the works for Christmas?  Patience.