In anticipation of additional snow, the NWS has now extended the winter weather advisory to midnight. It had been set to expire at 6:00 pm.
Another disturbance is moving toward our area and guidance suggest that it will kick off additional snow showers across the plateau this evening, some of which could be on the heavy side. Additional snowfall of 0.5 – 2.0 inches is possible, depending on how many snow showers you get in your neighborhood.
This is something you will not likely see coming on radar, for those of you staring at that radar this afternoon. That is because the plateau will be the mechanism that really gets the system kicking. That means the snow showers would develop right on our doorstep.
In fact, the only way of spotting this next disturbance is by satellite. Using water vapor imagery, which is like an x-ray of the atmosphere, we can see our next chance for snow coming. On the diagram below, you can see that moisture coming from the northwest (see the white arrows). That milky appearance is moisture. It just needs a mechanism to make it lift and drop it’s snowflakes. That mechanism could be the plateau (red circle). This should arrive around 7:00 pm or so.
My confidence is high that we’ll see additional snowfall. Many of us will likely see under an inch, but some of you may see more than that. Those of you on the western edge of the plateau stand a better chance at seeing snowfall (Mayland, Monterey, Jamestown).
Because of the high confidence in snowfall and the very cold road/ground temps, confidence is also high that we’ll see more school closures for Tuesday.
I’ll keep an eye on things and update again, as needed!
You all take care and stay warm. Temps are in the upper 20s, with a stiff breeze. Brrrrrrr
