Atmospheric river to focus on Northwest into next week
An atmospheric firehose will usher heavy rain and feet of mountain snow across the Northwest, northern Rockies and parts of California through the start of December.
Transcript
00:00 Well, we are talking about a series
00:02 of storms that are going to really
00:04 start to hound the Northwest,
00:06 and it's not just one again.
00:08 We're talking about multiple storms
00:09 right on the heels of each other.
00:11 And if we take a look at our headlines
00:14 here for that stormy stretch in the
00:16 Northwest that first round arrives.
00:18 Thursday afternoon this is going
00:20 to be the weaker of the systems
00:22 with additional storms to follow
00:24 into next week.
00:25 So we are talking about a very long time,
00:27 very lengthy amount of time here that we
00:30 are dealing with some action here across
00:32 the Northwest feet of snow through all
00:34 of the passes through Sunday morning
00:36 before a changeover to rain and with
00:37 that changeover to rain while we are
00:39 talking about a drenching rain at times
00:41 along the coast and the I-5 corridor.
00:43 Even up into the foothills as well.
00:45 If we take a look at what we're dealing
00:47 with, it's like triplet triplet
00:49 situation we have here.
00:50 Here's our storm Thursday and Thursday
00:51 night and then we have this next storm
00:53 arriving Friday night into Saturday
00:55 right on the heels of this one.
00:56 And then we have another system that's
00:58 going to push in Saturday night into Sunday.
01:01 So again, hold on to your hold
01:03 onto your horses buckle up.
01:04 We are in for the long haul here.
01:07 Let's play this out for you as we
01:09 take this throughout Thursday
01:10 afternoon Pacific time this around 1 PM.
01:12 We're starting to see that rain push
01:14 in that line of rain and snow moving
01:17 in towards the I-5 corridor,
01:18 even dumping some snow in and around
01:20 the Cascades that wave of energy is
01:22 going to continue to propagate East
01:24 into the Intermountain West,
01:25 dropping some late snow there
01:27 in those regions as well.
01:28 But then we have our heavier system
01:30 that's going to push through on Friday.
01:32 This is around 430 Pacific time.
01:34 We're already starting to see that snow
01:36 cranking out across parts of the
01:37 Cascades and even some heavier rain
01:39 there right along that I-5 corridor.
01:41 But this is going to be your
01:42 setup even through Tuesday.
01:43 Again, we are concerned about
01:44 some heavier rain,
01:45 especially as we head into the
01:47 day on Sunday and Monday.
01:48 There right along the coast that's
01:49 going to cost some flooding concerns,
01:51 but even as we shift a little bit
01:53 further East, that's where we have
01:55 that big thump of snow expected
01:56 right through the Cascades and even
01:58 a wintry mix across the Intermountain West.
02:00 Let's fill in this blue here.
02:02 Rounds of snow heaviest Saturday
02:04 into Sunday from Snoqualmie Pass
02:05 down towards White Pass and even
02:07 Willamette Pass coming in 30 to 36 inches.
02:09 So about 3 feet of snow possible here
02:11 along the Cascades down the pass level.
02:14 Closures are going to be possible
02:16 with snow changing the rain Sunday
02:18 afternoon into Monday, so heads up.
02:19 We are talking about some tricky
02:21 travel and possible closures there
02:23 there along the higher elevations.