PNW February 2023 Weather Discussion - Meteorological winter finale

[HuskyMaestro]

1 minute ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

Fife is literally just about the worst place in the Seattle metro area for scoring snow. Super low elevation, near salt water, and too far south to benefit from most convergence zones.

It's also tucked away in the low river valley surrounded by Tacoma and Federal Way that are both slightly higher up in elevation, so it snows elsewhere but Fife being 100' feet lower is enough for any falling snow to melt in marginal events. Super annoying but interesting setup.

Even in Feb 2019, I got 9" IMBY which was great, but was surrounded by areas that got 12"+ lol. 

[Perturbed Member]

It has been dumping here for a while. Going back and forth from heavy and moderate snow. These precip rates are better than I expected. Accumulating quickly. Temp is inching up though and I've mostly used up my wet bulb. 

31.7F DP 30F.

[SnowWillarrive]

5 minutes ago, Cold Snap said:

Yeah the temp just dropped to 37 and starting to get flakes mixed in. I think it might have something to do with the area of 925s that were above freezing over the cascades.

About 2 hours ago there was a small blip of +1 temps at the 925mb level just north of I-90. That is gone now. Temps crashing. 

[RCola]

1 minute ago, MillCreekMike said:

35F and rain. Patiently waiting, switchover should be soon.

Rooting for you. Think cold and snow!

[snow_wizard]

Temp has fallen 0.7 since the snow started.  35.4 now.

[OysterPrintout]

All rain! 

[snow_wizard]

Thankfully the ground was so cold!  It's already turning a little bit white.

[snow_wizard]

Just now, OysterPrintout said:

All rain! 

Amazing that so many places have rain falling when it's snowing just miles away tonight.

[snow_wizard]

35.2

[RCola]

Queen Anne is disappearing and the top of the Needle is fuzzy. My guess is snow level is about 300 ft and lowering. Give it another half hour and we will be in business downtown. Would be great timing with the heavier precip.

[seattleweatherguy]

Small flakes coming down hard

[snow_wizard]

Holy sheit!  This up about 3 inches from the 12z.

[Weiner Warrior]

[snow_wizard]

2 minutes ago, RCola said:

Queen Anne is disappearing and the top of the Needle is fuzzy. My guess is snow level is about 300 ft and lowering. Give it another half hour and we will be in business downtown. Would be great timing with the heavier precip.

I love watching stuff get fuzzed out during a snow event.

[Perturbed Member]

5 minutes ago, OysterPrintout said:

All rain! 

Bummer...

What is your temp and dp?

[SnarkyGoblin]

1 hour ago, TT-SEA said:

Wow... that is impressive.   Definitely makes me think that will be the Seattle area soon. 

Ya it just seems too warm for any stickage up here.

[SouthHillFrosty]

NAM has a nice narrow band on Tuesday

[TacomaWx]

0.6” here so far…down to 33 and coming down good. 

[Snownerd3000]

Down to 34. Looks like we just switched over starting to see some coverage.

[snow_wizard]

This is getting pretty serious now.  Reduced visibility and turning white.  The light winds here might really help.  34.9

[Cold Snap]

Air starting to saturate more now. Down to 35 with a DP of 30. I’m probably going to change to snow once the precip rates pick up.

[HuskyMaestro]

1 minute ago, snow_wizard said:

Amazing that so many places have rain falling when it's snowing just miles away tonight.

Honestly an incredible display of the dynamics at play, feels like this only happens in the PNW. Only other place I could think of is in Arizona where Flagstaff gets hammered with snow but miles south of the town, just rain. But our rain/snow situation is just a few miles apart. 

[BlvuSumit]

@1170’ in Bellevue snowing 32F SW10

[Brennan]

Does anyone live in Black Diamond? Curious how that area does for snow….

[WeatheringLoyalHeights]

2 minutes ago, SouthHillFrosty said:

NAM has a nice narrow band on Tuesday

I’m in that narrowest of purple isthmuses! (Isthmusi?)

[snow_wizard]

2 minutes ago, TacomaWx said:

0.6” here so far…down to 33 and coming down good. 

We might be looking at an overperformance!

[GHweatherChris]

1.5" so far, light snow currently.  Per radar heavier precip is about to introduce itself, that could get fun,

[TacomaWx]

Just now, snow_wizard said:

We might be looking at an overperformance!

We will see…euro and the gfs had us at 1.2-1.4” roughly. Not sure how long it’ll last given how marginal it is but pretty fun while it’s happening! 

[snow_wizard]

1 minute ago, Brennan said:

Does anyone live in Black Diamond? Curious how that area does for snow….

I know everything about this area including Black Diamond.  A few miles can be the difference between a lot and little around here.  Some places do VERY well.

[SnowWillarrive]

4 minutes ago, Brennan said:

Does anyone live in Black Diamond? Curious how that area does for snow….

I’m near it in Ravensdale. Does pretty decent compared to most places. Most of the area is above 600 feet. Especially in marginal situations. A few miles makes a huge difference out here. 

[Doinko]

Wow it's coming down pretty heavily. Looks like almost everything is getting covered again except for some spots on the pavement.

[RCola]

Happy to report it's about 80% snow now in Belltown. Give it another 15 minutes and we should be joining the full snow crowd.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

14 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Still juicy stuff extending well off the coast.  This could go for a while.

Adding up fast here, already 2.5 inches and 31.2 degrees. 

[snow_wizard]

Just now, TacomaWx said:

We will see…euro and the gfs had us at 1.2-1.4” roughly. Not sure how long it’ll last given how marginal it is but pretty fun while it’s happening! 

The million dollar question is whether the entire column will remain cold enough through the whole precip event.  Pretty soon colder air will be advecting into the mid levels.  Incredibly complex system.

[Christensen87]

Dry and cold in the Burg lol 

[GHweatherChris]

Just now, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Adding up fast here, already 2.5 inches and 31.2 degrees. 

Just dipped to just below 32 here, but it is a wet snow here.

[Cold Snap]

Still just a very wet snow for me but it’s starting to stick to grassy surfaces!

[TacomaWx]

1 minute ago, snow_wizard said:

The million dollar question is whether the entire column will remain cold enough through the whole precip event.  Pretty soon colder air will be advecting into the mid levels.  Incredibly complex system.

It’s very interesting for sure. The way it’s going it’s looking like we could exceed expectations but we will see how long this actually holds on. 

[snow_wizard]

4 minutes ago, GHweatherChris said:

1.5" so far, light snow currently.  Per radar heavier precip is about to introduce itself, that could get fun,

It seems like the moisture feed is more impressive than modeled.  With stuff still west of you that means we go for a good while inland.

[GHweatherChris]

Just now, TacomaWx said:

It’s very interesting for sure. The way it’s going it’s looking like we could exceed expectations but we will see how long this actually holds on. 

It is gonna hold on for at least a good while, KHQM still reporting Snow.