WeatherWatcher: Storm Reports for February 2-11

Ground Hog Day predicted six more weeks of winter, then Mother Nature proved it by bringing a trace of snow to the Shoreline and Lake Forest Park area that evening and Friday morning. That little taste of snow was just the start of our second largest but still small snow event of the season.

Friday - Saturday we saw snow showers change over to rain for some seasonal rain showers through the weekend. Then the big one, as a winter storm warning was issued for Monday. The National Weather Service in Seattle was expecting between 3-6 inches of snow in most areas, including Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. This was our first winter storm warning since January 17, 2012.

Monday brought some light snow. It was wet snow as temperatures were right at the margin of freezing for the majority of the storm. Due to the marginal temperatures, the storm's impact on Shoreline and Lake Forest Park was minimal with a 1.75 inch accumulation that was spotty in slightly warmer spots under trees or near bodies of water. The storm went around Shoreline and Lake Forest Park in just about every direction. Sea-Tac had more snow, Everett had more snow, and of course the east Puget Sound Lowlands had more snow.

All of our snow went to Puyallup
Photo by Elaine Caretti

This photo is an example of the snow Monday in Puyallup. As you can see it was nearly 14-15" of snow.

A very tiny change in direction or angle of the storm track Monday could have brought that 14" right to Shoreline, that's how touchy this forecast and storm was.

Once again Shoreline dodged this winter storm bullet.

Cold temperatures followed Tuesday and Wednesday with a cold rain arriving late in the afternoon of Wednesday. Thursday warmed up to 54°F bringing one inch of rain with it, removing any and all traces of our little snow.

With this storm also came strong winds. We had gusts recorded as high as 40mph during the day Thursday. After the winds gusted up to 40mph, the National Weather Service got a wind advisory issued. They then issued a second Wind Advisory for Friday; however winds in Shoreline on Friday only topped out at about 30mph.

February is much wetter than normal due to our frequent rain storms. We are over 3.5 inches now when our normal rainfall for this month is 2.98 inches. We are just at the halfway point.

Temperatures for the month have been well below average, finally reaching average temperatures just in the past couple of days.

Forecast: We have more rain on the way to continue our wet streak with near seasonable temperatures. For the next five days we are looking at a rainy and, at times, breezy pattern to continue. Long range isn't showing much change in this pattern at this time. We are on track to break the all time total rainfall record for the month of February.

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