Winter Storm Watch issued for Western Washington as many areas prepare for frigid temperatures

WESTERN WASHINGTON — Many parts of Western Washington are now seeing frigid temperatures as another winter storm is on its way.

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Now the concern is for icy conditions on area roads after any snow or moisture left over remains frozen.

And the active weather pattern is far from over. The next issue will be a short period of freezing rain or sleet late Thursday and into Friday that could cause tree damage, power outages and make travel dangerous in some areas.

Forecast

A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for all of Western Washington, including the Cascades for Thursday evening through Friday.

A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the Portland area and far southwestern Washington as weather conditions deteriorate late Thursday.

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Travel will become very difficult areawide and through the passes Thursday night and Friday, with some melting in Western Washington late Friday into Saturday. The passes will likely not see improvement from icy and snowy conditions until late Saturday or Christmas Day.

“I encourage everyone planning to travel through the Cascades and east to travel before the weather moves in there late Thursday night, though there will still be icy and snowy roadways from the previous event, so use caution,” said Chief Meteorologist Morgan Palmer.

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Colder temperatures on Thursday

It will be bitterly cold into Thursday morning, with morning lows in the teens in most spots of Western Washington and 20s at the coast. There will be increasing easterly winds out of British Columbia and central Washington. This will drive early morning wind chills into the single digits for Puget Sound and below zero north of Everett at times. This is extremely dangerous cold for anyone outside.

The highs on Thursday will be in the 20s, but with gusty winds continuing, expect wind chills in the teens through the day. Clouds will be on the increase ahead of our next winter storm.

The weather event is a snow and ice event similar to (but not lasting as long) what we experienced in January 2012.

“I expect significant impacts to road and air travel across the area with the worst of the weather for Western Washington late Thursday night through early afternoon Friday,” said Palmer.

Some light to moderate snow will move in at the coast and into Western Washington Thursday evening, though with the dry air in place, we might not have major impacts from snow until overnight for much of Puget Sound.

Freezing rain or sleet may make travel hazardous

With warmer air aloft moving in, the bitterly cold air at the surface will remain. This presents an unusual “overrunning” situation for Western Washington and a potential brief yet impactful ice storm to start Friday. The freezing rain (liquid water from warmer temperatures aloft freezing on contact with cold surfaces) could coat power lines, tree limbs, and roadways, leading to multiple impacts to travelers and also power outages and tree damage. Some sleet could also fall.

Some sporadic power outages and tree damage will likely result from the period of icing in Western Washington from very early Friday morning through Friday afternoon. Across areas north of Everett, we might remain with just snow with 3-6 inches of accumulation possible. More freezing rain and greater impacts are expected south of Western Washington, through the Gorge and the Portland area.

Snow and freezing rain will increase through the passes Friday afternoon and last into Friday night with the potential for significant impact there. East of the Cascades, some icing is likely late Friday and Friday night, with more snow and freezing rain through Saturday.

Focusing on Western Washington, surface temperatures ought to get above freezing from southwest to northeast Friday afternoon and evening, though it’ll take a while for thawing to occur. By Friday night, most locations should be in cold rain west of the Cascades.

Obviously, this is a very complicated and dynamic weather situation – one of the most complicated we face in Western Washington – and we need to prepare for very difficult travel conditions on Friday west of the mountains and potential power disruption and tree damage.

Temperatures warm up for the weekend

Over the weekend, while some freezing rain and snow are likely from the passes east Saturday and into Christmas Day, west of the Cascades, we’ll have heavy rain at times.

This rain could cause urban flooding from blocked storm drains and, eventually, river flooding. This threat of flooding from a suddenly warmer and very wet weather pattern (with several atmospheric rivers possible) will continue through next week.

Stay with us for more updates as we get closer.

Icy road conditions persist in the North Sound

Wednesday’s freezing temperatures created icy road conditions in the North Sound.

Lynnwood drivers said they are having issues with hills in the area.

“It’s icy, I call it black ice, and black ice is the worst,” said driver Waleed Alsammarraid.

“It’s been a little crazy this morning, I don’t live to far from here and I already saw someone driving on the wrong side of the road,” said driver Megan Zollars.

Drivers in the Lynnwood area said the road conditions are not ideal.

While main streets may be good to drive on, the real problem is residential streets.

“Yeah, it was pretty slick. Luckily, I have all-wheel drive, but I’ve seen a lot of people sliding around, struggling to even get out of their parking spot on the street,” said Zollars.

And you can’t forget about all the hills.

“Oh yeah, there’s a lot of hills, I actually haven’t had to deal with this hill yet with this snow storm, but the last one I saw three cars stuck on 220th right here, just trying to get up, so yeah, the hills are definitely a struggle,” said Zollars.

“Are you trying to avoid those hills?

“100 percent. Absolutely, because it’s like life and death. I don’t want to get hit or hit other people,” said Alsammarraid.

Snohomish County officials said all 38 plows are out treating roads. They’ve managed to clear over 14,000 miles of roads since Saturday evening.

Lynwood police credit the hard work from plow drivers and says they’ve only responded to seven weather-related wrecks since Tuesday morning.

“I’m driving 20 miles per hour, so just be careful it’s really slippery,” said Alsammarraid.

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