Rain douses West Main Street Tuesday evening in Chehalis.
A sign warns of wet conditions on Pearl Street in Centralia Tuesday evening.
Typically wet conditions will linger over Western Washington for quite some time, but the dreary weather is good news for snow-lovers eager to begin their winter pilgrimages to the mountains.
“Just rain. Rain a ton,” said Danny Mercer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle. “It’s really hard to pick out a dry period.”
According to Mercer, the region has seen about 2.5 inches of rain this month, a number that will more than double after more precipitation drops over the weekend.
“We do have quite a number of systems coming in,” he said.
That ongoing rain is nothing new for Pacific Northwesterners, and Mercer said conditions are fairly typical for this time of year. Despite the deluge of water, temperatures have remained mild after clear skies and frigid weather last week.
“There’s a basically a parade of storms, but none look terribly cold,” he said.
So far, there’s no indications the storms will lead to river flooding, always a concern in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. The biggest worry will be winds in the 25 to 30 mph range, with gusts up to 40 mph. Mercer said the National Weather Service was still weighing whether to issue a wind advisory for Friday.
Overall, the El Niño climate created by warm water on the Pacific Ocean should lead to a milder winter, somewhat limiting precipitation.
“The storms that we get, some of them will fall apart,” Mercer said. “We’ll still get our rain, it just won’t be as heavy.”
The sloppy conditions near sea level are translating to powder up high. The White Pass Ski Area announced Wednesday that it will open for the season on Friday, posting photos that show a fresh blanket of white covering slopes and trees.
Meanwhile, Mount Rainier National Park announced this week that the park is open for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and snowboarding. According to NWS, the Paradise area of the park recorded 17 inches of snow in a 36-hour period, with another foot or two expected by Thursday.
On Tuesday, the park closed the gate to Paradise at Longmire due to storm conditions, but reopened it Wednesday morning. The park tweeted that chains or four-wheel drive are required from Frog Haven, which is 8.5 miles above Longmire.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning about 3,000 feet in the Cascades through noon on Thursday. Drivers are urged to check conditions before driving toward the mountains..
