Rare Blizzard Warning Issued for Seattle Amid 60mph Winds

A blizzard warning has been issued for areas surrounding Seattle, Washington, as two "powerful" atmospheric river winter storms are expected to make landfall over the northwest, bringing several feet of heavy snow over the Cascades.

On Sunday evening, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Spokane cautioned residents of regions bordering the city to the east, including Darrington, North Bend and Randle, as well as the Port Angeles area to the west, to expect heavy snow at higher elevations and winds in excess of 35 miles an hour.

The warning is in effect from 4 a.m. PT (7 a.m. ET) on Tuesday to 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The last time the area was thought to be under such a warning was 11 years ago.

"WOW! A very rare Blizzard Warning has been issued by NWS Seattle for the Cascades and Olympics," Scott Sistek, a regional meteorologist for Fox Weather, wrote on Sunday.

Seattle and satellite cities including Everett, Tacoma and Olympia are all under wind advisories, as gusts could reach up to 55 miles an hour in places on Tuesday.

The local NWS station said in its latest forecast that the two oncoming storms will likely bring rain to lowlands and the possibility of coastal flooding through the middle of the week, before snow threatens to arrive at lower elevations in the latter half of the week.

A storm system on Monday is expected to dump a foot of snow on mountain areas, with minor flooding possible in the evening. A stronger system will then move in on Monday night, with wind gusts expected to reach up to 60 miles an hour at higher elevations and the possibility of a further five feet of snow.

"Strong winds combined with heavy snow will create blizzard conditions in the mountains with reduced visibility in blowing snow," it warned. "Strong mountain winds and heavy snow continues into Wednesday with snowfall rates decreasing toward the afternoon."

The highest amounts of rainfall are expected along the Washington coastline, where up to two inches could fall. For areas under the blizzard warning, blowing snow is expected to reduce visibility to less than a quarter of a mile.

Up to 30 inches of snow accumulation is possible around the Olympic Mountains, and four feet across the Cascade mountains.

Western states have already faced several bouts of snowfall so far this winter, having been subjected to a "prolific series" of atmospheric river storms from the Pacific. Last winter, the West Coast experienced the effects of a similar weather front, with California seeing several rounds of flooding.

At the same time, a "multiple hazard storm" is set to bring similar conditions over the central and southern Plains on Monday morning, before moving into the Midwest into Tuesday.

Up to two inches an hour of snow accumulation and a "ferocious blizzard" with winds of up to 70 miles an hour from New Mexico to Nebraska will make travel "extremely dangerous to impossible" in the region, the NWS said.

As such, blizzard warnings are also in effect for southeastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, as well as western Kansas and far southeast Nebraska.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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