First Lowland Snow Chance This Weekend: Puget Sound Forecast

SEATTLE — Snowflakes are in the forecast for the first time this season in the lowlands, with forecasters seeing a shot for some wet snow mixing with the rain late in the weekend.

Morning temperatures were already in the 30s for many in Puget Sound by Friday, and the wintry chill is here to stay for at least the next week as a cooler air mass filters into the region from the north.

The first wet weather system is due late Friday, forecast to bring rain across Western Washington and up to a foot of new snow to the mountain passes through Saturday. According to the National Weather Service, snow levels will hover between 500 and 1,500 feet into Saturday morning. Communities along the Cascade foothills, the northern Olympic Peninsula, and in Whatcom County will have the best chance for a rain/snow mix with the first system.

Forecasters are keeping a close eye on the second system, due Sunday night, which could bring the best chance for a brief window of snow mixed with the rain in the lowlands, as snow levels dip well below 1,000 feet.

"Sunday night time frame looks to be the one to watch with snow levels as low as 500 feet from about Seattle northward over the interior when the precipitation starts late Sunday night," NWS Seattle wrote Friday. "Air mass moderates Monday morning with the snow level lifting up to at least 1,500 feet from about Everett southward."

The chances are best for hilltop areas, but the current forecast shows a rain/snow mix possible in both Seattle and Tacoma late Sunday.

Here is the 5-day weather outlook for the Seattle region:

• Saturday: 41°/37° (Rain)
• Sunday: 42°/38° (Rain likely, then PM rain/snow)
• Monday: 43°/34° (Rain)
• Tuesday: 42°/39° (Chance of rain)
• Wednesday: 46°/37° (Rain)

Forecasters expect the second system will bring heavier snow to the mountain passes before precipitation tapers off across the region Monday night. Temperatures will stay chilly through the run, with afternoons in the low 40s and overnight lows in the 30s well into next week.

Another system could be in the cards Tuesday night, but forecasters said early indications suggest snow levels for that one will stay higher.

As for the rain, Seattle has already outpaced its annual rainfall average, with a few weeks left in the year.