Next storm to bring heavy snow to Tacoma-Seattle Friday night
Light flurries fell in the first storm, but forecasters say a second storm moving in Friday night will be the main event.
About 4 to 6 inches of snow is expected in the Tacoma-Seattle area through Saturday and up to 12 inches could fall in the Cascades.
“Pretty much all of Western Washington will see some snow but there will be sharp gradients and ranges,” according to the National Weather Service.
The agency issued a Winter Storm Watch for much of South Sound, including Tacoma, Fife, DuPont and Puyallup.
It says 6 to 11 inches is possible in the next 24 hours and warns that travel could be difficult, if not impossible.
Pierce County road crews were out patrolling the streets and clearing snow and ice as needed. They focused their efforts mostly on McKenna, Roy and Eatonville Thursday after about 2 inches of snow covered roads.
Olympia received the most snow Thursday, reporting 4 to 6 inches. Eatonville got 5 inches, and Graham saw 2 inches of snow.
Temperatures in Tacoma won’t go above 34, but with wind chill it will feel more like 21 to 26 degrees.
Although this series of storms has been difficult for meteorologists to predict due to easterly winds, they said record snowfall is possible in Seattle.
The daily record has stood more than a century, with 4.8 inches falling in 1921.
“And the odds of that record surviving? It might be close,” the Weather Service tweeted.
However, those dry winds mean there’s a chance less snow will fall than predicted, especially in the Interstate 5 and Interstate 405 corridors.
Some lingering snow showers could stick around Sunday.
By Monday, forcasters say temperatures will climb back into the 40s and lowland rain should return. The snow level is expected to rise to 1,000 or 2,000 feet.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 7:20 AM.
