Gusty winds, rain and heavy mountain snow Thursday

After a day of calm weather, another system is bringing rain and windy weather in the lowlands with heavy snow in the mountains Thursday.

Forecast

A cold front is moving through Thursday morning, producing widespread moderate rainfall with windy weather and some snow in the mountains.

A Wind Advisory is in effect until 8 a.m. for the Admiralty Inlet north, where gusts could be close 50 mph. The rest of the area is breezy to windy around 15 to 30 mph with gusts between 30 to 40 mph, and will be all day. The steady rain will move through by about mid to late morning, leaving us in a cool and showery pattern.

The increasingly westerly push behind the front will help to produce a convergence zone Thursday afternoon, enhancing shower activity with the chance for isolated thunderstorms. The convergence zone will also produce even heavier snow in the mountains, where snow will fall all day and into Friday. Highs will be in the upper 40s.

The upslope flow into the Cascades will generate very heavy snow, which is why we have a Winter Storm Warning for the central Cascades north (Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, Mount Baker) for one to two feet of snow, bringing very difficult pass travel. A Winter Weather Advisory for slightly lesser amounts of 8 to 16 inches is in effect for Mount Rainier. The snow will taper late Thursday night into Friday morning, but snow showers will occur at times through the weekend.

In the lowlands, late Thursday night and into Friday through the weekend will feature some clouds and sun, along with showers of mainly rain. However, overnights and morning hours, we’ll have to watch for some wet snow, too.

Accumulations should be minimal but bear watching with a slightly better chance of lowland snow on Saturday morning during this entire period. There could be some lingering snow showers into early on Sunday, but then we’ll dry out and stay dry for at least a few days!

Temperatures stay cool into next week with highs in the 40s and lows in the 30s. There’s no indication of any pattern change to bring warmer weather until at least the week after next.

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