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Monday, February 20, 2017

WeatherWatcher: Not the S word but a very rainy February


Not the S word: Snow has once again graced our forecasts this week. This is another marginal, uncertain chance of possible snow. We have some slightly colder air moving in Wednesday evening and Thursday but snow levels are expected to hold out at around 500 feet and above. At this time, this looks like the same type of event we had New Years Eve where some wet snow fell from the sky and gave us a dusting to a trace in places after a night of rainfall.

Forecast is calling for rain showers Tuesday - Friday night with some snow mixing in Wednesday night and Thursday. At this time it's expected to return to all rain Thursday night with no accumulation expected. One model has a dusting, but the ground may be too wet and warm for it to really stick.

Longer range shows a trend of cooler than normal temperatures once again but also clearing, with little moisture to cause any snow right now. This cooler weather is expected to last into possibly the second week of March.

February has been very wet. We haven't broken any records at Sea-Tac yet but it's pretty close. My Shoreline station has picked up a bit less rain than Sea-Tac has due to being near the edge of the Olympic Mountain rain shadow at times with the storm tracks.

My station's wettest February in the last 9 years before this year was February 2012 (Also the last winter we had a significant snow event). The rain total here in 2012 was 4.80 inches for the month. This month so far as of the 19th we have recorded 5.62 inches of rain, making it so far the wettest February I've recorded.

Precipitation for February 2017 from shorelineweather.com

Temperatures have either been below average or about average so far this month, continuing the cooler than normal winter season we've been having.

Daily High and Low temperatures from shorelineweather.com

Bottom line: Snow and rain mixed is possible this week but accumulations are not likely. March might have a couple more shots left in winter for us but for now I think we are safe from any significant snow.

We are running much colder than normal and much wetter than normal this winter. This trend is typically what's expected with a La Niña winter season, though it's important to note despite our excessive rainfall, we've also been below freezing a lot more than normal even for a La Niña winter. Despite all the precipitation and freezing temperatures, nature has managed to keep the two separated enough to limit any serious snow accumulation.




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