Weather Eye: As chilly air, rain roll in here, snow falls in mountains

We survived yet another month of weather in October and now we look toward a new month of surprises in November. Halloween was excellent weather for trick-or-treating and other outdoor events. Remember that one.

A cold air mass made its advance toward us late Wednesday with some showers and chilly temperatures. We will see periods of rain and clearing today through the weekend. Not a total washout by any means, but you will definitely feel the change in the air mass. Lots of cold air developing in Canada.

Snow is falling today in the Cascades and Olympics and will begin to dust the upper reaches of the coastal mountains tomorrow. It is possible, if things set up just right, the upper ski areas will get 2 or 3 feet of snow between now and next week.

If this was four or five weeks from now, we would be flirting with snow here in the lowlands. But it is not, fortunately. At least we begin to build a mountain snowpack and maybe, just maybe, open the slopes for Thanksgiving skiing.

Beyond the weekend into next week, we have a short break Monday and Tuesday but another storm by Wednesday with more snow in the mountains. With freezing levels low, we will see some snow east of the mountains in central and eastern Washington and Oregon. Factor that in if you are traveling.

Last year about this time, I wrote this in my column: “So where are we heading weather wise this week? Still continued mild with above average temperatures. I think we will see some dry days and perhaps more rain later in the week as weather systems skip by close to the county.”

This year, we go for unseasonably cool temperatures and more wet days than dry days. See what a difference a year can make? I always enjoy looking back at what I was writing about. One can easily see from year to year the extremes we were dealing with.

Remember to set your clocks back this weekend to standard time as we gain an extra hour to watch the cold rainy Sunday. We will chat then.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com.

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