A "more significant storm" is heading into the region on Friday. And if the cold temps persist, we could see more lowland snow, according to the National Weather Service.
That old groundhog was right, it seems, when he predicted on Feb. 2 that we’d get six more weeks of winter. At least that’s the case in the Pacific Northwest, where our temperatures on Monday were a good 13 degrees below normal and the forecast for the rest of the week is … “cold.”
It’s a reminder, said Dustin Guy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle, that “spring is still a month away and we’re going to have below-normal temperatures through at least the rest of the week.”
Although Monday’s low of 28 was not record-breaking, it was still the fifth-coldest February day this past decade. And yesterday’s high of 37 is 13 degrees below the date’s average high of 50 degrees, according to the Weather Service.
Tuesday is expected to be similar to Wednesday, and the rest of the week will warm up slightly but remain chilly, Guy said.
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A weak weather system will pass through the region southwest of Seattle on Tuesday, and a second, and parallel weak system, is predicted to follow on Wednesday, Guy said.
Tuesday’s system is bringing snow to coastal areas, such as Ocean Shores and Hoquiam, and the possibility of light snow to some areas south of Olympia and in the southwest interior of the state.
The system that’s forecast for Wednesday night could bring some snow to the lowlands south of Seattle, but “doesn’t look to pose a major risk for snowfall” for the city itself.
The past weekend brought gusts of winds that were recorded at 40 to 42 mph at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and up to 60 mph in Bellingham. The system also brought up to 10 inches of snow to a few places near Marysville and Arlington, Guy said.
Though it’s too early to make any concrete predictions about the end of the week, Guy said, it looks as if a “more significant storm is coming our way on Friday.”
Whether that will bring rain or snow remains up in the air, so to speak.
“The big question is what our temperatures will be like then,” he said. “It’s really too early to say if it will be snow or rain.”