'Snowiest, Coldest' Weather In A Decade Headed For Puget Sound

SEATTLE, WA - You might remember that cold, snowy day: Dec. 17, 2008. That was the beginning of a historic two-week stretch of cold and snow that hammered Puget Sound and Eastern Washington.

A series of storms dropped almost 2 feet of snow in total, and bone-zapping cold shrouded cities in single-digit temperatures —some places, like Arlington, even dropped below zero.

We're heading into a period of weather that might match those two frosty weeks in 2008. The snowstorm set to hit on Friday could drop even more snow than Monday's storm, and frigid temperatures are here for the long haul, according to forecasts. And there's even more snow on the way after the weekend.

"What’s interesting is all models show this upper level pattern remaining in place for the next week, leading to potential multiple rounds of snow and cold for Seattle — potentially our snowiest, coldest period since December 2008," Seattle Weather Blog's Justin Shaw told Patch.

"There is a real chance for a major snow event late Friday into Saturday — one with the potential to drop as much snow, or even more, than the event on Monday morning," University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass wrote on his blog.

Why is this happening? To put it simply, there's moisture coming in from the Pacific Ocean and very cold air dropping in from the north.

According to Shaw, there's a low-pressure system sitting off the Pacific coast that will bring the moisture. But that system is farther off the coast than the one that gave us snow on Monday, and that means the potential for more precipitation.

A key ingredient in turning rain to snow, of course, is cold.

There's a high-pressure system sitting over southern Alaska and the northeast Pacific. That's forcing the jet stream down through British Columbia and straight into Puget Sound.

It's a little early to talk snow totals for the Friday storm. But one of the most trustworthy weather models — the European Center Model — is predicting between 6 and 7 inches in the Seattle area between Friday afternoon and Sunday.

By the end of the 2008-09 winter, some 23 inches of snow had fallen at Sea-Tac Airport, the most since 1971-72. If forecasts hold and we get snow this weekend and beyond, those memories of Dec. 17, 2008 might be replaced by newer, colder, snowier ones.

Patch file photo/Neal McNamara