Forecasts call for heavy snow at Snoqualmie Pass this weekend, with possible light accumulations in the Seattle area beginning next Tuesday.
Most of the pass area will be dry to start Saturday with some sun. High clouds move quite quickly before a stronger weather system.
This will bring an increase in rain and snow in the mountains from Saturday night through Sunday, and only decrease Sunday night. Expect a very poor pass ride, and people heading to the Apple Cup should note that coming back from Pullman on Saturday night or all day on Sunday could be very difficult.
Pullman has not hosted the rivalry game since 2018. Therefore, WSDOT anticipates pre-pandemic levels of traffic on US-26.
KIRO 7’s Lauren Donovan spoke to several soccer fans who say the impending forecast motivated them to hit the road on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday morning.
“We were thinking since it’s such a late game, maybe we’ll go tomorrow,” said Emma Robins, a WSU student. “But you can never really predict what the pass will do.”
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Expect 8 to 18 inches of snow on the passes Saturday night through Sunday night with higher totals isolated. In the lowlands, more than a half inch of rain will fall and the breeze could exceed 30 mph on Sunday. A winter storm warning has been issued for this threat. It will be in effect from 7 p.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Monday, in areas of approximately 1,500 feet.
The colder air arrives Sunday night as the precipitation winds down, but snow levels will drop below 1,000 feet, which means we could get some slopes or flakes of snow on higher foothills through Sunday. at night and early Monday morning. However, I don’t expect any significant difficulties with the trip in the lowlands before Monday morning.
Monday itself will be mostly dry with some sun and highs in the 40s. It now looks like we spent most of Tuesday with no precipitation, but temperatures will be fairly cool with lows below freezing and highs Tuesday near 40.
Lowland Snow Probability
Precipitation appears to arrive Tuesday night into Wednesday with a trough of high-pressure low falling south of western British Columbia. It’s unclear how much moisture is available with this system, but it will be cold enough for some snow in the lowlands, particularly above 200 to 300 foot elevation Tuesday night through early Thursday.
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We’ll update that forecast as we get closer, but some light accumulations are likely during this time period in lowland locations, particularly above 200-300 feet elevation.
There are signs that even cooler air will plunge into the region around next Thursday and Friday, possibly for several days. If this works, and it’s not a certainty, high temperatures may barely rise above freezing some days with nights well below freezing.
It will be something to keep in mind, as it would be the coldest air of the season so far, if it occurs. However, if it’s that cold, it might as well be too dry for precipitation.
Expect high temperatures in the 30s and lows in the 20s to wrap up next week.
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