Merry Christmas! It will be a stormy holiday around the great Northwest with heavy rain, snow and strong winds, a very good day for the indoor festivities for sure.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Portland had issued winter storm warnings for the Columbia River Gorge east of Bonneville Dam and in the Cascades for heavy snow. The Coast Range and foothills were to get a few inches before turning to rain later today.
Many county residents had a light snowfall late Sunday with 1-3 inches on the ground, generally above 1,000 feet. Those same locations could get a little of the white stuff early this morning before the snow level rises. The hopes of a white Christmas here in the lowlands was very small as I wrote this column Monday afternoon. Not to say a few wet flakes could be here and there much like Sunday evening. Bottom line: A few county residents will wake up to a white Christmas.
After that, unsettled weather with showers and continued cool with highs in the 40s and lows in the 30s. No big cold wave in the offing quite yet.