Western Washington escapes the deep freeze; normal conditions set for week

What a contrast from last week, going from the deep freeze to milder wetter weather! The weather transformation unfolded over the holiday weekend with more to come this week.

A series of Pacific weather systems are set to move through Western Washington this week. The first will exit the region Monday with lingering showers and some sunbreaks. The next weather system is anticipated to arrive Tuesday night with rain continuing into Wednesday.

Thursday should involve showers and more sunbreaks before the following weather system arrives Friday with another surge of rain.

Deep freeze replaced by seasonal conditions

Temperatures this week are expected to be quite close to seasonal. High temperatures will range from the mid-40s to the lower 50s while lows will mainly be in the 40s. The average high temperature in mid-February is around 50 degrees and lows in the upper 30s.

In the mountains, more much needed snow is anticipated. By the end of the week, another foot and a half to three feet of new snow is forecast. Snow levels will hover around 3000 feet for much of the week, meaning highway pass travel may be challenging at times.

Tough driving conditions in the passes

If driving into or across the Cascades, be prepared for hazardous winter weather driving conditions. Always carry chains and be ready to use them if required.

As of last week as the mid-winter dry spell wrapped up, the mountain snowpack was running well behind average. Snow depths were between 60 and 90 percent of average. The change in the weather pattern over the holiday weekend helped add to the snowpack. The snowpack deficit for the Olympics and north and central Cascades bumped up to 68 to 82 percent of average. The south Cascades snowpack rose to 100 to 115 percent of normal. The usual peak of the mountain snowpack is around April 1, leaving now less than 6 weeks for the snowpack to reach normal or better.

The weather has evolved from sunshine and cold last week to grey skies with lowland rain and mountain snow this week, essentially back to more ‘normal’ conditions for this time of year.

Ted Buehner is the KIRO Newsradio meteorologist. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on X.