Heavy Snow — Northeast Blue Mountains, Washington

2012-01-17 to 2012-01-18 · Northeast Blue Mountains, Washington

Wider weather episode

Cold air in place met up with a warm, moist Pacific air mass across eastern Washington. The moist warm front slowly moved its way into southeast Washington on the evening of the seventeenth as snow began to fall across the northeast Blue Mountains. The warm front progressed northward across eastern Washington with heavy snowfall over much of the region on the eighteenth. The warm front stalled as it moved into the Northeast Mountains during the late afternoon and evening hours of the eighteenth. This system weakened during the nighttime hours on the eighteenth into the nineteenth as drier air at mid-levels began to infiltrate in. Some light freezing rain/drizzle reports were observed across the area toward the end of the event as the dendritic layer dried out above a still saturated layer off the surface.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 358817. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.