Snowy Feb End Possible

A real variety pack in the wx dept for the rest of February.  Worthy of a good cup of coffee, or whatever your fav morn’n beverage.  Here goes.

A chilly Low pressure trough is moving across NW WA this morning, so expect rain & showers, mainly north of Chehalis, to continue through most of today.  Clearing and frosty overnight, so use caution on the roads Tue morning.  The air mass, esp over OR will be still, so fog could be in play, as well. 

The next rainy system - with wind - is due to arrive late Tue into Valentine’s Day.  Enough cold air from the chilly Low noted above could penetrate far enough south to set up a wintery event for the eastern portions of the Columbia Gorge.  Yep.  Snow and/or freezing rain.  Inches of snow are possible by Fri.  For the rest of the west side just rain (although, snow/rain mix near the Fraser Gap is possible), as the surface southerly wind component of the Valentine’s storm should hold snow up in the mountains.  There will be an east wind out of the Fraser Gap late Wed into Thu.  Clearing will begin overnight Valentine’s Day, so expect a drier pattern to arrive late this week, with a E-to-NE breeze, esp out of the Gaps.

The coming weekend is trending more dry than wet for the PNW, as a front will essentially be stretched out along the west coast, before another round of moderate ‘El Niño’ rains begin to hit California starting Sunday Feb 18.  We do not rule out a stray shower anywhere in the PNW this weekend, but the Puget Sound will be the most likely area to get a shower.  Throughout the region, expect chilly Feb temperatures.  

Week of Feb 19-23.  Generally dry & chilly for the PNW, as California will be the wet place next week.  Locally, fog may be in play in the usual places, less so late week.

Ponder Point.  Will we enter another wintery mode for the PNW?  Well, lots of speculation, per the models, as to what our regional wx will be like as Leap Year February 2024 nears an end.  A colder, snow producing pattern may begin to set up during the final weekend of the month.  Rain and rapidly lowering freezing levels are possible during the Feb 24-25 weekend.  Rain will start first in NW WA & BC, then move into OR and ID later on Sunday.  Much colder air behind the windy storm will drop snow levels - potentially - right to the surface on Mon Feb 26. The same system will also become a major CA storm, as well, as the cold, wet air mass continues its move south along the west coast.  SNOW SHOWERS may continue in the PNW through much of Tue Feb 27.  This is just a projection for now, and it has been charting during multiple model runs.  It is not uncommon to get a decent shot of surface snow in February, so let’s see what Nature presents.