It seems like every day for the past week has been breezy. This is thanks to repeated weather systems that have crossed over the Pacific Northwest every 24-36 hours for the last several days. While these haven’t been bringing much precipitation to the Tri-Cities, they have been providing rain to the west side as well as mountain snow. We get a break from this train tomorrow, which should provide some calm winds.
The next system reaches the Columbia Basin on Friday, and this one should have enough moisture to give us some rain showers as it moves through. It seems likely that the precipitation will start after 10 am on Friday, but if it hits us quicker than expected we could see some snow (most likely in the form of a rain/snow mix). Rainfall values should remain under a quarter of an inch here in the Tri-Cities. As usual, more precipitation is expected in Walla Walla and Pendleton thanks to their proximity to the Blue Mountains.
Friday should be a rough travel day if you’re headed anywhere except through the Columbia Gorge or maybe towards Bend. Otherwise, if you’re leaving the Columbia Basin or Yakima Valley, expect heavy snow with many mountain passes expecting at least a foot. Even Spokane is getting in on the action with this one with what will likely be 5-8 inches. Winter Storm Watches are currently in place for the Blue Mountains, the Wallowas, northeast Washington, and the Cascades. The only exception to this list is the west slopes of the Cascades in northern Oregon, which are only under an advisory.
Things should mellow out here for the remainder of the weekend with another low chance of precipitation Sunday. Next week, it is looking more likely that we will experience very cold temperatures with a decent amount of snow possible. Models have been struggling to agree on what this snow and cold will look like, but that has changed within the last 24 hours.This weekend would be a good time to prepare for snow and cold. This includes things like getting a shovel, making sure your pipes won’t freeze, winterizing your vehicle, etc.
That said, I’m hesitant to offer any specific snowfall and temperature values because much of this event is still a week or more away. Because of this, it’s entirely possible that one or more of the models could change course and offer a different forecast solution for that time period.
As always, I strongly encourage you to not board the hype train. I’m hoping that the models remain in agreement through the weekend, which will help to increase confidence. I am watching this situation closely and will keep you posted over on Tri-Cities Weather! You can also get immediate updates by signing up to be notified of new posts I make! This can be done at the top of the sidebar on the right.
Thanks for reading! For those interested in what the Puget Sound Region is expecting, check out this post that my good friend Matthew just posted to his WeatherTogether blog!
The featured image for this post is the forecast positions of weather systems in the North Pacific on Friday. The Pacific Northwest is on the right of the map, with a low pressure system impacting the region via both a warm and cold front. Source: Ocean Prediction Center.
