Strong Cold Front Midweek

 Happy New Year!!

The first full week of the new year looks like it's going to be an active one with a pair of strong systems diving down from the gulf of Alaska. 

The first front moves in tonight bringing the usual lowland rain and mountain snow. A particularly chilly lowland rain as this system is moving in from the northwest, temperatures will hang in the low 40's for most of the day tomorrow with occasionally breezy weather in the morning as the front passes through. The mountains will get absolutely hammered with snow, good news for the snowpack! This first system should bring 3/4 of an inch of rain to most of the lowlands and up to 16 inches of snow for the passes, higher where a CZ forms tmrw evening. 
On the heels of this, another strong cold front enters the area come Wednesday morning. This one looks more potent as it is already entering a somewhat unstable airmass behind the previous front. Some of the Hi-Res models depict a squall line crossing the area early Wednesday morning. Depending on the strength of this squall line we could briefly see some snow mixing in with the rain, especially in areas with elevation. As the low crosses to our north, it ushers in winds from the northwest. And as usual this will lead to the formation of a convergence zone, potentially a strong one. As par with CZ's, we don't have an exact idea on where it will form but the usual Snohomish county area will likely be under the gun for this once again. As temperatures cool into the Wednesday night and early Thursday, there could be a brief period of wet snow under the CZ or other heavy banding. Temperature should remain a tick above freezing so not expecting any significant accumulations, but a dusting seems possible given this scenario. Will monitor this and update if necessary. 

All in all the mountains should receive plenty of snow, multiple feet in fact, by the end of the week. The lowlands should see cold rain for the most part, but fingers crossed (or not) for some lowland snowflakes!!

Have a good night!!

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