Heavy Snow — Kittitas Valley, Washington

2022-04-11 to 2022-04-13 · Kittitas Valley, Washington

Event narrative

A social media post in Kittitas, WA indicated that an estimated 5.5 inches of new snow accumulation occurred in a 24 hour period ending at 0630 PDT on April 12th. Another social media report in Ellensburg, WA indicated that 5 inches of new snow accumulation occurred the night of April 13th.

Wider weather episode

An upper trough pushed several low pressure systems across the Pacific Northwest in the middle of April. The trough allowed for a much colder than normal air mass to settle into portions of eastern Washington and Oregon, allowing snow levels to drop to the surface across a majority of these areas. This ultimately resulted in snow accumulations in the mountains and lower elevations, with significant snow accumulations being observed in some mountain zones.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1024917. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.