Light snow Sunday and likely heavier snow Tuesday into Wednesday
Friday, December 27, 2013
A ridge in the Gulf of Alaska is keeping mild northwest flow over the area. The Storm Peak Lab near the top of Mt. Werner did not get much below 15F last night even as the valley reached 0F in the cold temperature-inverted airmass. A beautiful sunny and seasonably warm day on the hill is on tap for today before a splitting shortwave rounding the top of the ridge affects our area by midday Saturday beginning with high cloudiness and falling temperatures.
Snow is expected by midnight Saturday and through the rest of the night, but amounts are forecast to be light and only in the 1-4” range. A couple of disturbances in the northwest flow should influence our weather through midweek. The first wave will bring some more snow by late Monday night or early Tuesday with the second stronger and moister wave continuing heavier snows Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Snow showers should continue through Wednesday evening before we may see some clearing on Thursday.
Another wave in this northwest flow may affect the area by Friday, although current forecasts have this one grazing us and producing only very light snow. After that, major disagreements in the models appear in the 10 day period as one is forecasting a pattern change by breaking down the Gulf of Alaska ridge while another keeps that ridge intact.
