WeatherWatcher: Localized Wind Storm Explained, More on that S Word

Wind Storm

Snow

Wind Storm:

Many areas in the Cascade foothills and along valleys leading from east to west had experienced continued high winds starting yesterday morning and lasting through the night and into this morning. This is a result of the cold dense air east of the Cascade mountains and the low pressure we have just off the west coast. This arctic air that has been giving us our below freezing temperatures at night has been pouring in through the gaps in the Cascade mountains. Since the air is heavy, it is following the river valleys out to the Puget Sound. Places like Shoreline and Lake Forest Park are not exactly in a river valley and are generally sheltered by the eastern outflow from the various gaps in the Cascades. South King County and places in Peirce County, and all of the foothill communities got the brunt of this wind event as a result.

This type of event is actually pretty common in the foothills but the gradient between the east and west side of the Cascades was a little stronger than normal this time. My experience living out in Gold Bar along US 2 taught me about this pressure gradient that sets up as storms move inland from the Pacific.

Snow: The latest forecasts seem to start to agree now that we are under the 24 hour mark. The storm moving in south of us is likely to stay south, we will see some high clouds but with the cold dry air, precipitation north of Tacoma is unlikely. We will remain cold, but gradually start to moderate through the weekend with sunny skies, well into next week.

There is a ever so slight chance that a convergence might set up, but this is very slim and remote, even more remote for any convergence to happen on its way through the Shoreline Area. The storm moving south of us will be pulling more air out of British Columbia, Canada and Eastern Washington; again, this will depend on how strong the pressure gradient becomes, and how cold the air mass is still. If this pattern happened in December we would have been in a much different situation.

For current conditions and storm updates, visit my page at http://www.shorelineweather.com