overcast

I just drove back from Buckley to Puyallup Valley. Started dumping snow heavily and accumulating quickly in Buckley about 4:45 - roads covered until partway through Bonney Lake, then mostly rain/little precip from there and down the hill. My car is the only one covered in snow at my apartment now! Buckley is about 700 ft elevation.

Dumping on the north tip of South Hill Puyallup for 45 min. An inch already. Surprised this little band has produced so well. The most beautiful picturesque flakes of the season.

Why hasn't seattle NWS put out urban flood advisories, at least for the South sound? With the radar like this on top of a foot+ of snow, lots of people will wake up to unpleasant surprises in their basements and local roads in the morning

I'm in Enumclaw and Buckley today and it's now mostly rain both places.

The SDOT cameras and live feeds are fun to look at right now, especially the waterfront. I've never seen snow like that along the downtown waterfront before. https://web6.seattle.gov/travelers/

Waiting on pins and needles for this precip bandzillamageddon to move through. Looks like it could be brief but wild. Fingers crossed for thunder clap!

Agreed. For the south sound, whether it's a foot of new snow, freezing rain, or rain on top of 10-15 inches of snow, any outcome shown would have big impacts and certainly power outages. Should be interesting!

Seattle NWS overnight forecast discussion really highlights the freezing rain potential for the Monday night storm. "With the exception to the Experimental FV3 solution that keeps conditions cold and gives insane amounts of snow to much of the southern 2/3 of the area, the models show about 5-8 inches of snow in the interior north of Seattle and Shelton and change precipitation south of there to a rain, or a freezing rain-snow-sleet mix. Will opt for the mixture given the cold air in place and the tendency for models to mix it out too quickly. While snowfall amounts would be cut back to the south of Seattle in this most likely scenario late Monday night into Tuesday, freezing precipitation can pose huge impacts to roadways and the power grid. The mountains are expected to see large amounts of snow with this system. The winter storm watch will be changed to midday Monday through Tuesday and will be segmented as appropriate to differentiate the frozen precipitation from the mixed frozen and freezing precipitation threats." For South Sounders this just brought up fears and memories of 1996 and 2012 ice storms. Some trees in Puyallup still show the scars. I'll never forget the crazy crackling of the forests from 2012. I sure hope this low stays south!

Not too impressed with the temp right now in Puyallup. Still 29 but low of 12 was modeled/forecasted. There's no way we hit 12 tomorrow morning, maybe 20 at this rate

Despite getting screwed it seems like year after year a few days prior to these model teases, I feel optimistic about our chances for something regional and memorable this time. Just looking forward to some crisp continental air for once this winter, and a widespread 1+ inch at the front-end would be nice for once - to help bring down the overnight lows a notch.

The variability of our weather in the Puget Sound lowlands amazes me. I just took the light rail back from downtown to Tukwila. No snow downtown, trace-inch throughout rainier valley, and over 3 inches at the light rail station in Tukwila, yet no accumulation a half mile down the hill in the valley, and just a trace here on the hill in Renton. Amazingly hit or miss with this first round.

Light snow is falling in the Fairwood area just east of Renton. I just left the gym there and it's legit snow - a pleasant surprise. Around 400 ft elevation - radar isn't picking it up. Nearest station showing temp of 32 with dp of 30: https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=pws:KWARENTO85 I don't think my area will come close to the forecasted high of 40 today- maybe won't get out of the mid-30s.

I'm liking the couple inch band shown for overnight tomorrow on the WRF from Tacoma to S Seattle - and a bit more toward the foothills. Also nice to see most areas beating their forecasted lows so-far.

What impact does snow cover typically have on nighttime radiative cooling - couple degrees, or a lot more? Is the small amount of snow accumulation being shown already baked into the temps models are showing for next week?

I haven't posted here in several years but just jumping on the bandwagon I suppose! It's so exciting to see the model consistency leading up to this event. Could be historic, on top of one of the colder Decembers we've had in several years. Not even looking at wrf snow amounts at this point as those details will change a lot from run to run - just glad the block is setting up nicely to deliver something big in the next week or so. I was on the old Almanac forum more than a decade ago and remember the heartbreak of Jan 2005. Just curious, does anyone remember if the models were this consistent leading up to that sad, non-event, or if they showed anything close to what we're seeing now 5 days out?