Winter Storm — Southern Washington Cascade Foothills, Washington

2021-02-11 to 2021-02-13 · Southern Washington Cascade Foothills, Washington

Event narrative

The south Washington Cascade foothills observed heavy snowfall. A member of the public reported 11 inches in Yacolt, which is actually in far northern WAZ039 but close enough to serve as a proxy for the South Washington Cascade foothills zone. It is likely areas closer to the Columbia Gorge received even more snow than the Yacolt report.

Wider weather episode

A deep upper trough drove an arctic airmass into southwest Washington. As multiple Pacific fronts moved over the area, a major elevation winter storm with heavy snow and freezing rain occurred over a multi-day period. This was a major, widespread, multi-faceted winter storm that caused major problems across the forecast area, even (and especially) in the lowlands.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 946577. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.