Spring weather is ‘typical winter pattern’

Our weekend of wacky weather continues, jumping into spring with a mixed bag of conditions.

Washington State Department of Transportation says traffic is getting through Snoqualmie Pass. But traction tires are still required.

And in the lowlands, there was more rain and hail.

There were plenty of stray showers all around. But the ever-changing skies show that this wacky weather isn’t done yet.

This is what fell from the sky in parts of Lynnwood this Sunday afternoon.

Light snowflakes were the order of the day for drivers along State Route 167 in Algona. You can just about make them out in this DOT video.

This comes days after some imagined summer had arrived early.

“My older one commented that this was the first day of summer she thought,” said Melissa Geng of Bellevue, about her 5-year-old daughter. “And now it feels like it’s back to winter.”

“It’s actually more of a typical winter pattern in terms of winter weather for us,” said Carly Kovacik, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “But here we are. And it’s April. And we’re going through it.”

Going through it, says Kovacik, because the storms are actually coming from our neighbors to the north.

So why was it so warm Thursday?

“Well, that was right before the pattern changed,” Kovacik said. “So, we actually had an area of high pressure above us and brought us the warm weather.”

But that didn’t last long. By Saturday, so much snow fell in the mountains that an avalanche of accidents led to the closure of Snoqualmie Pass for hours.

Even the lowlands got a good helping of a wintry mix all weekend long.

“It was nuts, yeah,” said Jason Mattson of Centralia. “Yeah, it was a surprise. But today’s gorgeous. Happy for the change. You just never know in Washington.”

That is certainly the truth. But there is a silver lining in all of this precipitation.

At least for now, there is no drought on this side of the mountains. Not so in Eastern Washington. They could use some of the precipitation we are getting.

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