Here We Go Again!

First:

Special Weather Statement
Sponsored by State Farm

Statement as of 6:01 AM PST on December 15, 2008

... Snow expected in The Lowlands on Wednesday...
... Cold weather in store for the remainder of the week...

Snow is forecast for The Lowlands of western Washington Wednesday. A developing weather system along the northern British Columbia coast Tuesday will move south over western Washington on Wednesday. This system will draw moist air off the ocean which will override the cold air mass in place over western Washington producing snow. At this point... it is difficult to say how much snow this system will produce. Small changes in the track of the system can effect the amount of snow over the area greatly.

Cold Arctic air will remain over western Washington this week. Daytime highs will have a hard time getting above freezing and nighttime lows could drop into the single digits in some places. Record lows have already been set for today. Previous cold spells this time of year will make the record lows harder to break for the next couple of days. The following is a table of record low temperatures for the upcoming week.

Seattle Olympia Bellingham Hoquiam Quillayute

15th 20/1964 * 17/1967 2/1964 25/1967 21/1967
16th 10/1964 5/1964 -1/1964 16/1964 21/2005
17th 11/1964 3/1964 6/1964 17/1964 21/1987
18th 18/1964 13/2005 15/1984 25/1984 21/2005
19th 17/1990 15/1984 12/1990 21/1990 18/1984
20th 14/1990 4/1990 11/1990 16/1990 18/1998

* record broken this morning

Since 1990 the low temperature at Seattle-Tacoma Airport has dropped to 15 degrees or less only twice... January 30, 1996 and December 20,1998. Both days the low was 15 degrees. In December 1990 the low temperature at Seattle Tacoma Airport dropped to 15 degrees or less on 5 days.

The record for consecutive days with highs freezing or below at Seattle-Tacoma Airport is 10 set January 21-30, 1969. Here is a list of the top five streaks of high temperatures freezing or below at Seattle Tacoma Airport.

1. 10 days January 21-30, 1969
2. 9 days December 4-12, 1972
3. 7 days January 27 to February 2, 1950
4. 7 days January 12-18, 1950
5. 6 days December 19-24, 1990

In January 1950 the average daily high temperature for the month was 30.7 degrees. This is the only month in the official Seattle weather records that the average daily high temperature was below freezing.

Felton

Second:

Record Report

Statement as of 5:30 PM PST on December 15, 2008

... Record low temperature set at Seattle WA WFO...

a record low temperature of 23 degrees was set at Seattle WA WFO
today. This breaks the old record of 27 set in 1991.

... Record low temperature set at Seattle-Tacoma WA Airport...

A record low temperature of 19 degrees was set at Seattle-Tacoma WA
Airport today. This breaks the old record of 20 set in 1964.:

Third:

Winter Storm Watch
Sponsored by State Farm

Statement as of 3:28 PM PST on December 15, 2008

... Winter Storm Watch in effect from late Tuesday night through late Wednesday night...

The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a Winter Storm Watch... which is in effect from late Tuesday night through late
Wednesday night.

Heavy snow is likely over western Washington on Wednesday. Three to six inches are possible in certain areas... including the east Puget Sound lowlands... the northwest and southwest interiors... and the Strait of Juan de Fuca area. Snow in these areas will begin in the north late Tuesday night and spread south Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night three to six inches of new snow are possible.

Other areas... including the Seattle metropolitan area and the Kitsap peninsula... could get less snow. Here models show one or two inches are possible. On the coast it is possible that conditions will be warm enough for rain part of the time... or mixed rain and snow. However it is not certain that sub-warning amounts will fall in these areas and the Winter Storm Watch extends to them as well.

The Cascades and Olympics will also receive heavy snow... with one or two feet of new snow likely.

Snow levels will be at sea level through much of the event so virtually all of the precipitation will be in the form of snow.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

Monitor weather forecasts. If you have to travel... Tuesday is likely to be a much better day than Wednesday.

Burke

All reports courtesy of Weather Underground. Neat site, I had installed a "sticker" on my home page, but it never worked right, maybe because I usually don't allow cookies...