Pockets of freezing rain possible overnight Tuesday

This post will be brief, but I wanted to give an update as there has been a change in our forecast. The freezing rain that does develop should be isolated with light accumulations, if any, but may impact drivers Wednesday morning.

As rain moves across the Cascades and into the Yakima Valley, some areas around the Tri-Cities have reached freezing. Temperatures aren’t expected to cool much overnight tonight, but areas that do reach below 32° stand a chance at freezing rain. Right now it doesn’t look like this will be a major event, and I don’t think everyone will see freezing rain, but there could be some slick spots for the morning commute.

An inversion has formed over the Columbia Basin, and current indications are that it will remain in place into Wednesday morning. This on its own does not guarantee freezing rain. Freezing rain forms when a layer of warm air above ground level melts falling snow into rain, with this rain refreezing into ice on contact with ground that itself has a temperature below 32°. As of writing (8 pm Tuesday), temperatures around the Tri-Cities are right around 32°-35°, but like I mentioned above, temperatures won’t cool much overnight.

Even though the chance for freezing rain overnight is low, drivers should plan for extra time on their commute, take it slow, and leave extra space between vehicles.

Above the inversion, snow levels should be right around 3,000 feet over the Tri-Cities. This should limit our precipitation to rain and patchy freezing rain, though Rattlesnake Mountain could have some snow on the summit tomorrow morning. Folks traveling north of the Tri-Cities may experience some snow, with snow levels at or near the ground in Yakima and Ritzville.

As a whole, precipitation values are expected to remain below a quarter inch of rain (or its equivalent). The more significant rain isn’t expected to come until Wednesday night, and temperatures then are expected to be well above freezing. Wind gusts are expected to increase to the 20-30 mph range on Thursday. I will have more details on that event as we get closer.