Seattle Snow Storm Could Be Worst Since 1985

If you live out west, you’d better bundle up.  There’s a lot of snow on the way.

A major winter storm that could drop three times Seattle‘s annual snowfall on the city over the course of two days is heading straight for the Pacific Northwest tonight (Tuesday) and into tomorrow (Wednesday).

Chris Dolce, a meteorologist with weather.com, says travel could become “dangerous or impossible” by tonight in Seattle, Olympia, Bellingham, and Portland, Oregon, as well as in other areas.

The National Weather Service is calling for 1-2 inches of snow today in and around Seattle, followed by another 5-10 inches tomorrow.

Weather.com, though, is saying that portions of Seattle could see 12-18 inches of snow in the next 48 hours. Up to 8 inches is forecast for the Portland area.

“Keep in mind, average annual snowfall is only 2.4 inches in Portland and 5.9 inches in Seattle, so these amounts are very significant for these metro areas,” Dolce added. “According to the National Weather Service in Seattle, Wash., snow amounts from this storm could exceed anything seen since November 1985 at Sea-Tac airport.”

The Seattle area got several inches of snow this past weekend, but got a break yesterday.  That’s all going to end tonight.

Dolce said that “several feet of snow” was expected in the Cascade and Bitterroots mountains.

Be careful out there, Seattle!

Related articles

• Big snowstorm in the Seattle forecast (myballard.com)
• West Seattle snow: New forecast out – might be snowy till Friday (westseattleblog.com)