PORT ANGELES — The first snow of the year could fall on North Olympic Peninsula lowlands this weekend, but the National Weather Service said it’s difficult to predict how much will accumulate.
“Right now, it looks like a showery pattern,” said Dennis D’Amico, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
A cold front passing through the region Saturday night will leave a cold air mass in place for Sunday and Monday, he said.
Hit-and-miss snow showers are predicted for the Peninsula, including low-lying areas such as Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Sequim, Forks, Clallam Bay and Neah Bay for the second half of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
Greater accumulations are expected at higher elevations.
“It’s looking like temperatures at sea level will be marginal for snow,” D’Amico said.
D’Amico said there could be a light Frazier Valley outflow effect, in which cold air from the British Columbia interior pushes clouds into the Olympic Mountains to produce locally heavy snowfall.
“On Sunday night, there’s a chance the outflow will increase a little bit,” he said.
D’Amico said the weather system appears to be “pretty general” in how it will affect Clallam and Jefferson counties.
He said snow forecasts were not clear-cut as of Thursday.
A series of storm systems passing through Western Washington next week will bring a variety of winter weather, the Weather Service said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
