Sporadic snow showers are predicted throughout today, with things clear and cold by tomorrow, January 11. There’s just not enough moisture for Snowmageddon ’13, says KOMO Weather, apologetically, but the afternoon commute may contain some surprises.
Keep on eye on things at SnowWatch, which lets you follow temperature trends, watch snow levels rise and fall, and see estimated amounts of snow.
As you can see from the radar, today the culprit is Canada’s cold air, displaying a shameless disregard for the U.S. border. You never see U.S. weather sneaking into Canada, notice.
This northerly flow will drop temperatures to below 30, and into the upper 20s, so icing of roads is expected for Friday morning. The National Weather Service forecast shows temperatures remaining at or below freezing for the weekend, and if moisture arrives from anywhere, we’ll see snow. At this point, there’s not much on the radar but stay tuned.
Weather geeks are watching out for the effects of something called sudden stratospheric warming, which could bring an actual “Arctic blast” our way in the latter half of January. It gets complicated, but essentially, when the stratosphere above the Arctic warms suddenly, it disrupts the tendency of frigid air to stay put up up there. Very cold air nearer the surface can emigrate down through Canada and into the U.S. If B.C.’s interior fills with cold air, it can squeeze out through the Fraser Gap, and travel down past Bellingham to Seattle. But…lots of ifs.
