By Gordon McCraw
Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 11:00am
Weather
A cold front is dropping south thru WashingtonΒ this morningΒ so the rain will be moving into our area laterΒ this morningΒ or early this afternoon. This meansΒ todayβs forecast is for cloudy, rainy skies, winds westerly 5-10, highs near 52.
This front will pull in some colder airΒ tonightΒ and we transition over to rainshowers as the snow level begins to fall. The snow level, that started out above 3000β drops below 2000β by midnight, the winds diminish, and the early morning lows falls to near 32.Β This means, with continued scattered showers, lower level snow flurries are possible with accumulating snow possible in the passes, and higher,Β tomorrow morning.
So, a chance of rain and/or snowshowersΒ tomorrow morningΒ with another disturbance moving thru, then with daytime heating the snow level climbs up to near 1000β in the afternoon when the shower activity diminishes.Β We should see light east winds and a high near 51. Conditions improveΒ tomorrow nightΒ and with relatively clear skies and light east winds, the low drops to near 31. The snow amount thruΒ tomorrow morningΒ likely a trace at the low levels, up to Β½β in the passes possible with just under an inch in the higher Coast Range mountains.
High pressure moves inΒ ThursdayΒ so mostly sunny skies with winds becoming northwesterly 4-8, highs near 51, some clouds move in that night and with light winds again, lows drop to near 34.Β FridayΒ the high pressure tries to hold on but we start to see the high clouds moving in as an indicator that we are in for another pattern change.Β We also start to see the warmer southwesterly flow increase pushing the highs up near 56, lows near 39, obviously the snow level also climbs up over 3500β.
SaturdayΒ on we see a strong upper level jet stream oriented southwest to northeast over the region.Β We will then see several systems riding the flow, moving up and over our area, bring rain to the area over the weekend.Β There are model indicators suggesting another weak to moderate atmospheric river event will develop later this weekend into the start of next week. For now, though the local river forecasts do show increased flows it presents only low hydrological concerns, but this should still be monitored as it is early in the game yet and things can change between now and then.
COVID-19 County Data
Β· Weekend Case Count (March 3Β toΒ March 6): 8
Β· 7-day case count (Feb 27Β toΒ March 5): 14
Β· 14-day case count (Feb 20Β toΒ March 5): 47
Β· Cases for February (March 1Β toΒ March 7): 12
Β· Total Cases to date (March 2020Β toΒ March 7, 2022): 3,603
Β· Total COVID-19 Related Deaths: 58
o [Unvaccinated: 43 | Vaccinated: 14 | No ALERT Record: 1*]
Β· Total COVID-19 Related Hospitalizations: 138
Β· Active outbreaks (OHA): 2 are reportable, 12 under monitoring for total of 14
Β· 7-day test positivity rate (OHA): (Feb 20Β toΒ Feb 26) β 3.7% (previous was 7.9%)
