Storms for later today, Friday and next week
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
A well-defined but quick moving wave will allow periods of moderate snowfall to develop late this afternoon and last through the evening. Snows will lighten and turn showery around midnight, but continue into the early morning hours before ending. I expect 4-8” of snow by Wednesday morning before skies mostly clear and temperatures warm for later Wednesday and Thursday.
Another stronger and more organized wave creates heavy precipitation starting along the northwest coast Wednesday and affects our area by Thursday night. However, current model forecasts have this wave splitting as it moves over our area, and model trends indicate the bulk of the storm may pass west and then south of us. Nonetheless, precipitation will begin early Friday and last through Saturday, but due to the splitting flow, I might expect only 3-6” during Friday which will be reported Saturday morning. An additional 1-3” may fall during the day Saturday before a transient ridge containing warm and dry air moves over our area for Sunday.
Another very similar storm may affect our area early the following week, though this one may have more cold air associated with it as it phases with another wave from the north rotating around the ever-present-for-this-winter Hudson Bay vortex. This storm currently is forecast to produce significant precipitation for our area from Tuesday through Thursday of next week, though that forecast is dependent upon the amount of splitting the storm endures as it moves over our area.
