Literal ‘Seattle Freeze’ sets in with possible slush, snow on tap as temps rise

Literal ‘Seattle Freeze’ sets in with possible slush, snow on tap as temps rise

Monday is off to another cold start with clear skies, with temperatures slightly warmer than Sunday but still around 16 to 28 degrees areawide.

Offshore wind will increase a bit today and be gusty to breezy, but stronger in the Cascade Foothills where gusts could be in the 40 mile an hour range. Otherwise, expect sunny skies with highs mainly getting above freezing in the low to mid-30s.

Tuesday will start dry but clouds will increase throughout the day, with moisture increasing into that evening.

Often when we have a prolonged cold snap like this, it can be very tricky warming up, especially when any moisture moves in. On late Tuesday afternoon, a large system will move in and the precipitation will be interesting. When the precipitation starts, it could start as snow, rain, and wet snow, or even some freezing rain.

Some brief accumulating snow looks possible before turning to rain either very late Tuesday or very early Wednesday. If we get a quick couple of inches in Olympia on Tuesday night, it will quickly turn to rain by late Tuesday or very early Wednesday. That could be messy for commuters Tuesday night.

Most of the area will be in the low-40s on Wednesday with just rain and a lot of snow in the mountains. However, we may get some heavy and longer lasting snow in Whatcom County through Tuesday or maybe even into Thursday. We need to watch the North Interior of the state closely, but we will moderate even to our north later this week.

The rest of the week then will have just pockets of cool rain, warming our temps each day until we are in the low-50s by Sunday.