Last gasp for lowland snow season in Seattle -- Cliff Mass
A "more threatening" story on Saturday could be Western Washington's last low-elevation snow experience this season, as University of Washington climate expert Cliff Mass sees sunlight at the end of the forecasting tunnel.
Longer days pose an "increasing problem for low level snow lovers," Mass forecasts in his latest weather blog post.
"The sun is rapidly getting stronger and days are getting longer: We only have a week or two left in the lowland snow season before the sun makes serious snow impossible," Mass writes.
Snows can continue to hammer higher elevations. March can come in like a lion, and go out the same way. The snow pack in the Cascades and Olympics typically reaches its maximum depth April 1, which is when fretting begins about speed of the spring runoff.
The Mass prediction for much of this week has a familiar feel. Wet snow can fall above 400-500 while "rain or a wintry mix hit near sea level."
"Being near the (relatively) warm water of Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and the Strait (of Juan de Fuca) is also a problem."
But a foot or more of snow may fall above the 3,000-foot level, in areas such as Snoqualmie Pass. "This kind of flow can really dump snow in the mountains, since the westerly flow has a large upslope wind component up the north-south oriented Cascades," Mass writes.
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