Showers have come to an end. Patchy freezing fog will form over the southern part of the interior tonight into saturday morning as skies clear and temperatures fall. Mostly dry conditions over the weekend with a weak ridge of high pressure over the region. The next front arrives later monday and tuesday with breezy and wet conditions. Drier weather returns by the middle of next week.
Expect light, mainly northeasterly, flow through sunday. Some patchy fog is possible over southern portions of puget sound and hood canal during the morning hours on saturday.
A frontal system will approach the waters from the west sunday night and move through the waters monday afternoon or monday night. This front will likely produce small craft advisory level southerly winds across the waters.
High pressure will build back into the waters midweek. Albrecht
Wa...none. Pz...none.
/issued 250 pm pst fri mar 8 2019/
Synopsis...showers will continue to taper off as an upper level low exits the area tonight. Temperatures will keep these showers mostly rain this evening and tonight. Mostly dry conditions over the weekend with a weak ridge of high pressure over the region. The next front arrives later monday and tuesday with breezy and wet conditions. Drier weather returns by the middle of next week.
Short term /today through sunday/...current radar shows shower activity continuing to dwindle this afternoon...although some areas of light precip still appear to be present. The good news is that temps have risen enough in the current obs such that anything that falls will likely do so in the form of rain or...given the weakness of these echoes...sprinkles.
If one were to hope that this morning were the last of the snow...well...the current forecast would lean toward supporting that. Dry conditions are expected to take root late tonight/early saturday morning and persist through the day sunday as an upper level ridge exerts its influence over the area. While this will bump daytime temps up a degree or two...the most noticeable impact will be catching sight of that strange glowing orb in the sky that scientists call...the sun. Overnight temperatures will remain brisk with lows staying close to where they have been for some time now...generally in the upper 20s to lower 30s. As such...snow levels will continue to dip down each night going to from between 1000 to 2000 feet during the day to around or just under 500 feet overnight. the saving grace of course being that it cannot fall as snow if there is no precip to begin with.
All that being said...given how consistent models have been...very little in the way of changes made to inherited forecast. smr
Long term /monday through thursday/...timing still remains pretty consistent with model solutions of 24 hours ago regarding the approach of the next frontal system...reaching the far nw tip of wa late monday morning but precip from this not really becoming widespread until monday evening. This front will pass through during the overnight hours and into tuesday morning while moisture from the associated upper level low moving over the area tuesday will keep pops in the forecast. Models remain consistent...and fingers remain crossed...that snow levels with this system will remain in the 1000 to 2000 ft range and as such...precip associated with this system should fall as rain in the lowlands. Amounts look interesting for the cascades and...should qpf values remain consistent...a headline might be warranted...but plenty of time for that decision to be made. Wednesday sees another upper level ridge building in over the area...making for dry conditions for both wednesday and thursday.
Temps during this period do finally start to approach seasonal normals...with highs getting into the upper 40s to lower 50s. overnight lows will see a significant bump upward monday night into tuesday with lows in the mid to upper 30s...but then sink back down into the lower 30s for the remainder of the period.
Still...taking this discussion as a whole...once again with fingers crossed...maybe...just maybe...that white stuff is finally gone til next winter. smr
Aviation...an upper low over washington is slowly shifting east. light flow aloft will become northerly. Skies will be clearing though the evening, but a few areas of low clouds might set up for awhile overnight. The weekend should be mostly sunny.
Ksea...skies will be clearing into the evening hours--some low clouds might set up for awhile, but then saturday should be mostly sunny with light and variable winds.
Marine...gradients are pretty light this afternoon as a weak low fills over the coastal waters. Offshore flow will develop over the weekend. A front will move through the area monday afternoon or night and then high pressure should build back into the area by midweek.
Hydrology...river flooding is not expected for the next 7 days.
An upper low over southeastern washington will slowly move southeastward and away from the area tonight through saturday night. Northeasterly flow aloft. The air mass is generally stable, but will become somewhat unstable during the afternoon hours over the mountains with daytime heating. This may result in some isolated afternoon and early evening showers.
Conditions are generally vfr across the region, but radiational cooling is resulting in patchy freezing fog forming over the south interior and the kitsap peninsula. This fog will result in patchy ifr to lifr conditions until about 18z saturday. Albrecht
Ksea...mainly clear conditions through 09z. There is the potential for the formation of a mvfr stratus layer between 010 and 020 during the late night and morning hours that may produce a ceiling for several hours in the morning. Once the stratus clears about 16z-18z, expect sunny and good vfr conditions on saturday. Light northeast winds will become northerly saturday afternoon. Albrecht
Showers have come to an end with the loss of insolation and as the upper low that has produced the unsettled weather over the past few days departs to the southeast. Radiational cooling has allowed temperatures to quickly fall this evening with most places in the 30s and some places from the kitsap peninsula southward into the south interior falling into the upper 20s. Some freezing fog is already being reported at shelton and appears to be forming in bremerton. Tonight`s update will expand the areal coverage of the fog and add the "freezing" prefix to it with temperatures in the upper 20s. The remainder of the forecast which calls for drying and slow daytime warming through the weekend looks good. Albrecht