Published: November 13,2014
Winter Storm Bozeman will deliver a swath of snow from parts of Oregon and Washington to parts of Idaho, northern Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado eastward into the Plains and Midwest through late Saturday. Some areas are also seeing ice accumulation from freezing rain, especially in the Pacific Northwest.
(MORE: Winter Storm Bozeman News, Impacts | Science Behind Naming Winter Storms | Expert Analysis)
A storm system began moving into the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday night, transporting mild, moist Pacific air over the shallow, cold air mass near the ground. This is resulting in an unusually early spell of winterlike weather for the region.
Winter storm watches, warnings and advisories continue for much of Oregon, Idaho, and southern Washington state, as well as parts of the central Rockies.
(Alerts: WA | OR | ID | NV | UT | WY | CO)
Strangely for mid-November, the Portland, Oregon metro area and Willamette Valley is also being affected by Winter Storm Bozeman. One-tenth to one-quarter inch of ice accumulation was observed Thursday morning in parts of the Portland metro, as well as Salem, Corvallis and Eugene, accumulating in trees in some areas.
The precipitation changed over to rain in the southern Willamette Valley later Thursday morning, but a renewed push of colder air flipped the precipitation back to snow and freezing rain in the afternoon. Large flakes were seen falling in Corvallis, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, on Thursday afternoon while ice coated cars and sidewalks in Portland due to freezing rain. Walking was nearly impossible on sidewalks in some of the city's hillier neighborhoods.
(MORE: Ice Accumulation Impacts)
Farther east, freezing rain and snow will continue in the Columbia Gorge, affecting travel on Interstate 84. Snow is also affecting the Cascades and areas immediately to the east in southern Washington and central and eastern Oregon, and has already spread east into Idaho -- including the larger cities of the Snake River Valley -- and into the Wasatch Mountains and northern Wasatch Front of Utah and the Rockies in western Colorado.
Several inches of snow are expected in the Treasure and Magic Valleys of Idaho. Lighter totals are forecast in the Salt Lake Valley.
(FORECAST: Portland | Boise | Salt Lake City)
Snowfall amounts will not be extraordinary by winter standards, but will be rather impressive for mid-November. Given the cold weather preceding the storm and the sleet and freezing rain mixing in at some locations, untreated pavement could become quite slick -- and already has in the Portland area.
Expect difficult driving conditions to continue on Interstate 84 from the Columbia River Gorge eastward into Idaho, as well as U.S. Highways 20 and 26 from the Cascade passes of Oregon eastward across the rest of the state and into Idaho.
This snow comes a bit early, relative to average, in eastern Washington and eastern Oregon. The average first measurable snow in Pendleton, Oregon, and Yakima, Washington, comes in the final week of November. In Bend, Oregon, the average date of the first measurable snow is Nov. 17.
Winter Storm Bozeman's snow and ice will stay just south of the Seattle-Tacoma area as well as Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90.
A broad area of snow will spread across the central Plains, Missouri Valley and mid-Mississippi Valley, spreading to the Great Lakes Saturday evening.
Snowfall accumulations in most of the Plains and Midwest should remain less than 6 inches, with the possible exception of parts of Kansas. This may be the first measurable snow of the season in Wichita and St. Louis.
(FORECAST: Wichita | St. Louis | Chicago)
Incidentally, the name "Bozeman" was chosen for this season's "B" storm in honor of a Bozeman (Montana) High School Latin class which helped come up with the 2013-2014 names list. Coincidentally, we are expecting some snow from this winter storm in the city of Bozeman.
Damaging Winds Before the Winter Storm
Strong winds broke out in parts of the Pacific Northwest Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting high wind warnings for parts of western Washington and northwest Oregon, injuring one person in Portland and blowing trees onto houses in the Seattle-Tacoma area. At least 66,000 customers were still without power Wednesday morning in the two states as winds continued to knock down trees and power lines.The winds are the result of the same winterlike air mass that has plunged all the way south to the Gulf Coast and eastward into the Ohio Valley behind a powerful cold front. A powerhouse high-pressure zone over western Canada and the northern U.S. is also trying to literally push this frigid but shallow air through gaps in the Rocky Mountains and from there into the Northwest, where it faces a second obstacle in the form of the Cascade Range.
The high, whose central pressure was 1051 millibars (31.03 inches of mercury) over Canada's Northwest Territories Tuesday afternoon, has proven plenty strong enough to do just that. Winds began howling before sunrise Tuesday in the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland, Oregon -- the most prominent gap in the Cascades, cutting a 4,000-foot-deep valley through the mountains.
Winds gusted as high as 66 mph at Crown Point, Oregon, just after 4 a.m. Tuesday according to a Weather Underground personal weather station. Powerful gusts continued throughout the day and night, and some 26 hours later Crown Point clocked a 79-mph gust at 6:22 a.m. Wednesday. The winds became even more ferocious there Thursday, when the site measured an 88-mph gust at 9:43 a.m.
Gusty winds knocked several trees on to I-90 in Denny Creek, Washington, prompting the closure of portions of the interstate on Wednesday. Wind gusts as high as 61 mph were observed Wednesday at Enumclaw, near the east Puget Sound lowlands in western Washington.
Farther west, sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph with gusts as high as 53 mph buffeted Portland International Airport, on the banks of the Columbia River, for much of the day Tuesday. Gusty winds continued at PDX on Wednesday and Thursday.
Despite the rough winds, most afternoon flight arrivals to and departures from the airport were on schedule Tuesday, according to the airport's website. The wet and icy conditions led to a few delays and cancellations Thursday.
However, a bicyclist was seriously injured on Naito Parkway in downtown Portland Tuesday afternoon after being hit by a large tree felled by the strong winds.
KGW-TV said some 50,000 customers had lost power by 2 p.m. PST Tuesday in the Portland-Vancouver area. The outages knocked out traffic lights in downtown Vancouver, Washington:
By early Wednesday morning, Clark Public Utilities had whittled their outages down to about 4,000 customers in southwest Washington, while Portland General Electric reported 10,800 customers in the dark in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. Most customers in southwest Washington had power restored by Thursday.
Farther north, those cold easterly winds also cut through some of the passes through the Cascades in Washington, leading to winds that downed trees along the Route 410 corridor east of Tacoma, Washington, on Tuesday. Some fell on houses, as shown here:
KING-TV said some 25,000 customers lost power in western Washington Tuesday due to the winds. A peak gust of 59 mph was clocked in Enumclaw, where the White River exits the mountains into the Puget Sound lowlands.
Outages continued to mount Tuesday night and Wednesday morning as the winds continued. Puget Sound Energy said 52,000 customers were without power as of 7 a.m. PST Wednesday, mostly in Pierce and southern King counties. The utility said it had restored power to 130,000 customers, some of whom had lost power more than once.
About 6,000 customers were still in the dark Thursday afternoon. PSE said some customers may not see power restored until Friday. This is an issue, considering bitterly cold temperatures have settled into the region. On Wednesday morning, a record low of 28 degrees was set at the Seattle National Weather Service forecast office, which broke the previous record set in 2000.
Check back with us at The Weather Channel and weather.com for the latest on Winter Storm Bozeman.
No comments:
Post a Comment