EVERETT — That unseasonably warm winter we’ve been having? Well, it’s about to get seasonal.
By Sunday evening, maybe Sunday afternoon, expect to see snow in Everett and other low-lying areas. Forecasters predict even colder temperatures Monday that might linger through the week.
“We’re a little overdue for a shot of winter,” said Mike McFarland, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Seattle.
As for Friday and Saturday, they’re only expected to bring clouds and some rain.
By the time people are done watching the Patriots and Rams settle Super Bowl LIII this Sunday — kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. — that all could change.
The Weather Service predicts a trough of cold air will descend from British Columbia. That could bring breezy conditions to Snohomish County and much stronger winds to the north, in Whatcom and San Juan counties.
Daytime highs in the low 40s on Sunday could slide into the high 20s overnight. Monday’s highs could stall in the mid-30s across the Snohomish County lowlands and hit the mid-20s the following night.
“We’ll cool down sometime on Sunday,” McFarland said. “Late in the day is a better bet. Timing is a little tricky.”
Be careful messing with us, snow! These machines are gonna scrape, plow, and push you around. We're ready for the weather, but please drive carefully if you see flakes start to fall. And give our crews room to work. pic.twitter.com/7S2pKNzABF
— Snohomish County (@snocounty) February 1, 2019
Still, it’s nothing compared to the Arctic cold blasting the upper Midwest. It was minus 3 in Minneapolis early Friday, with icy wind.
So far, it’s been a warm winter in Western Washington, though nowhere near a record.
Temperatures at Sea-Tac Airport, where historical data are more complete than at Paine Field, have hovered around 45 degrees this January, McFarland said. That’s about 3 degrees above normal. That makes it approximately the sixth-warmest since the 1940s.
The warmest-ever January on record there averaged 47 degrees, in 2010, he said.
Rainfall this January was “a little drier than normal,” McFarland said, but nowhere near the driest.
Computer models show lower temperatures and less precipitation for the next week or longer.
“It’s a little early to say how it’s all going to shape up,” McFarland said. “Between Sunday and the end of next week, there could be several opportunities for some winter weather.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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