After a cold front brought heavy rain and snow to the Northwest and Northern California Friday into Saturday, another trough will approach the coast late Saturday night. This next trough will be slow to progress and instead will likely remain just offshore through Tuesday of the upcoming week. This means several days of rain and snow for the Northwest before the system pushes south through California into the middle of the week.

Forecast

Isolated showers and mountain snow will be off and on over the next 24 hours across the Pacific Northwest.  Heavy snow will be possible in areas of Washington and Oregon in the higher elevations.

Rain

Rain totals will likely reach over an inch to two inches in a few coastal locations with these next few rounds of precipitation, mainly from Northern California into Southern Oregon.

There is also the chance for more thunderstorms from the Pacific Northwest to the Southern California Coast too.  Remember the small hail that fell last week in San Diego?  We’re not saying that’s very likely this week, but any time the atmosphere is charged enough to produce thunderstorms, you have a vertically rising air column along with ice present, and that CAN mean some small hail might be possible too.

Snow

Snowfall will be higher along the peaks that are closer to the source of moisture. The Olympic Peninsula and Northern Cascades can expect accumulations up to and over a foot in the higher terrain. As the next wave of moisture arrives Monday, better snowfall will begin to accumulate from Northern California across the Blue Mountains of Oregon into Western Montana.

Additional precipitation is likely to spread into Central and Southern California through the middle and end of the week. You can always stay up-to-date with the latest forecast for this region at 50 past the hour.