Heavy Snow — Waterville Plateau, Washington

2018-01-11 · Waterville Plateau, Washington

Event narrative

A member of the public in Mansfield reported 7.0 inches of new snow accumulation.

Wider weather episode

A surface low pressure system off the Washington coast formed a stationary front draped across eastern Washington during the day of January 11th. A second low pressure formed along this front and migrated through eastern Washington and north Idaho. A rich plume of Pacific moisture enhanced into heavy wet snow across the Cascades and eastern Washington. Outside of the Cascades the heaviest snow accumulations were noted just to the north of the track of the low pressure and was largely confined to a 50 mile wide area across the northern Columbia Basin and the southern portions of the northern Washington mountain zones. Peripheral areas near the Canadian border and over the southern Columbia basin received generally 2 to 4 inches of snow from this system.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 729733. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.