Heavy snow to return to mountains this week as we cool down, but it’s fleeting
Scott Sistek 
4 day snowfall forecast Tuesday-Friday. (Note: This model will seem to overestimate the snowfall in the Puget Sound lowlands because there's so much snow in the mountains the amounts are "leaking" over into lower elevations due to lower model resolution.)
I’ve got good news and bad news for skiers and snowboarders.
I know this ski season hasn’t been among, let’s say, the Top 10 in recent years between the very warm and rainy start to winter and all the road closures from the December storms. But you’ve got a window here coming up this week to really hit the slopes with fresh new powder before Mother Nature turns off winter again.
There’s also at least a chance of seeing a little snow in spots in the higher lowlands (!) this week, but don’t expect to be skiing down I-5 anytime soon.
For now, it’s just a “what the rest of the nation thinks Seattle always looks like” postcard kind of day: Gray and wet. A low pressure area is making its way through the Northwest on Sunday, bringing rain at times.
Wind potential had been lurking in the fringes of the headlines for the storm leading up to the weekend but has since faded from being a significant event. Still breezy though for Sunday, with gusts up to 30 mph at times.
Coastal Flooding will remain a concern during the early afternoon hours of high tide with water levels about on par with what we saw Saturday. The threat fades through the week as the moon moves farther out of full moon phase and tides lower.
We’ll be in a lull Sunday night into Monday which means weather won’t be an added headache on top of getting everyone back into the end-of-winter-break routines.
But the weather pattern takes a shift for the rest of the week as two systems quickly come in back-to-back from the Gulf of Alaska. Nothing warm ever comes from somewhere called “Alaska” so as you might correctly surmise, this system will bring cooler air.
It’s not cold enough for widespread lowland snow fall — just chilly rains for us in Seattle Tuesday and again with the second system on Wednesday. But it IS cold enough to bring GOBS of snow to the mountains.
We’re talking 10-20”+ in the Cascades passes and more on the slopes. So driving across the mountains midweek will be challenging, but by the end of the week, the ski resorts should be all “heart eyes” emoji.
HEY YOU SAID SOMETHING ABOUT LOWLAND SNOW?
Technically I said “little snow in the higher lowlands”, Mr. Inner Voice 😉 . With the first system on Tuesday, snow levels stay above what I’d call the “lowlands”, but after the second system Wednesday, enough cooler air may mix in to bring a wet snow or rain-snow mix down a few hundred feet of elevation and around the Convergence Zone areas of Northern King/Southern Snohomish County later Wednesday into Wednesday night.
It looks to be a fringey event perhaps on par with the little splotches of snow we saw around here in the higher spots last week. So no big deal (sadly).
Some lingering rain/wet snow showers may linger into Thursday morning and then a brief break. There might be a little light rain from a weak system on Friday.
But the long range forecasts are starting to trend drier — especially the Euro model, which is hinting that next week may see a dominant ridge take over the West Coast, leaving us literally high (pressure) and dry. That would make for multiple if not several days of morning fog and frost and then some hours of sun before we repeat the pattern.
That’s not great for the snowpack, but it will make for some great skiing days early on, just not much hope for natural snowpack additions. So January not looking like much for winter excitement at least through the middle of the month. C’mon February!