Heavy Snow — Cascades of Snohomish and King Counties, Washington

2021-02-15 to 2021-02-17 · Cascades of Snohomish and King Counties, Washington

Event narrative

A prolonged period of snowfall occurred across the Cascades in the middle of February. Snow began falling on February 14th, increasing in intensity on February 15th. Then, between the hours of 6am on February 16th and 6am on February 17th snowfall peaked in intensity around Stevens Pass, with 20 inches of new reported during this time period. Snoqualmie Pass also experienced heavy snow during this prolonged event. Snowfall at Snoqualmie Pass peaked in intensity on the 15th, with 11 inches of new snow reported between 6am to 6pm on the 15th.

Wider weather episode

Strong cyclonic flow continued over much of the lower 48 in mid February, with Western Washington experiencing much colder than normal conditions. Between February 16 and February 17, heavy snow affected the mountains, particularly the Central Cascades as a surface area of low pressure passed across the area, accompanied by some support in the left exit region of a 250mb jet streak over Oregon.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 945324. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.