A cold front is now making landfall
on our coast...you can see that by the switch to NW flow on the coast (see map). General precipitation will drop back in the lowlands...although it looks like a Puget Sound convergence zone will form north of Seattle this afternoon (that usually occurs with NW winds on the coast). However, this is an ideal pattern to get big snow in the mountains. In fact, the he
aviest snows often fall there after cold front passage when winds are more westerly. Why? Winds from the west have a stronger wind component up the mountains then prefrontal winds from the south. Also the air behind our cold fronts are cold and unstable...with lots of cumulus-type clouds. Such instability clouds really blossom as they are forced to rise by terrain.The next several days promises one wet system after another and more seasonal temperatures. The media has been pushing the flooding issue, but I don't think that lowland flooding will be a serious threat this time...assuming everyone clears their drains. Behind the cold front, temperatures will fall and the melt off will be much slower than in 1996..the last major melt-off flood event.
