SEATTLE (AP) - After a relatively dry start to winter that had some people worrying about the mountain snowpack, the season has taken a more familiar look with a parade of mid-February storms marching across Washington, bringing strong winds, steady rains and heavy mountain snow.
About 3 feet of snow have fallen since Friday at Snoqualmie Pass, and another 2 to 4 feet of snow are expected by Thursday, said Chris Burke, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Seattle.
“We’ve been getting pounded in the mountains,” he said. “We’ve been getting a storm once every 24 hours since Friday.”
Many skiers who have been waiting for the snow were thwarted from reaching the Cascade slopes Monday and Tuesday because of intermittent closures on Stevens and Snoqualmie passes.
A winter storm warning was in effect until Wednesday morning.
The rain at lower elevations is filling Western Washington rivers, and the weather service issued flood warnings on the Chehalis, Skookumchuck and Skokomish rivers. Any flooding would likely be minor, Burke said.
Forecasters also warned of high winds Tuesday on the south Washington coast, but that’s not that unusual for this time of year, Burke said.
Tuesday’s storm will be followed by another vigorous frontal system Wednesday night and Thursday, the weather service said.
The storm parade may pause this weekend. There’s a chance of partly sunny days, which may allow the skiers and boarders to reach the slopes.
The mountain snowpack that had been around 50 percent of normal on Feb. 1 has climbed to about 80 percent in three weeks, Burke said. And it will likely continue to accumulate into the early spring.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Burke said.
“We call this reversion to the mean,” he said. “If you take a long enough period, everything is always average.”
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