Weather Eye: With a snowstorm bearing down, now’s the time to prepare

I hope you are heeding the advance notice of colder weather heading our way and making preparations. The grocery stores will most likely be crazy this weekend, similar to a holiday rush once snow really gets in the forecast. Remember last February? A huge run on kale for some reason. I don’t even care for the stuff.

Yes, cold weather is certainly on the way after this weekend. We’ll get a slight lull today, but by tonight through Sunday, we have several cold storms moving through for rain heavy at times, windy with possible gusts in the 45-50-mph range. Don’t leave the garbage cans out, you’ll never find them.

Heavy snow measured in feet will be upon the Cascades, and even the coastal range will get some snow over the weekend at the highest passes. Then things get interesting Monday and beyond. We have a chance of snow showers both Monday and Tuesday as cold air filters over us. Just how cold is not certain, but looking at things late yesterday, I’d say Wednesday and beyond we see highs below freezing and lows in the teens with gusty east winds.

The southward push of arctic air quite often gets hung up at the border near Bellingham or over Puget Sound. Eventually, we get it on east winds. We won’t know for certain until the weekend how severe this will be, but there’s a good possibility it will be one to write home about.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the cold air is entrenched by Wednesday as forecast charts indicate a sizable storm dropping down from Alaska. That could be the one that closes school and brings the commute to a standstill. But it is a week away, so no solid bets.

Some wet snow was falling in our foothills yesterday as reported by our weather observer Murphy Dennis at around 1,300 feet. The cold will reach our coast and some snow there, as well. Get ready now before the rush and keep updated on the forecast as it will be quickly changing over the weekend.