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Winter weather update

More Stormy Weather for Oregon and Washington

11/20 weather mapBy Matt Alto, Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

20 November 2012 -- AccuWeather.com reports a day after the strongest in the train of Pacific storms slammed the Northwest with flooding rain and hurricane-force wind gusts, another storm system will bring more rain and wind to the region.

Although today's system will not be as strong as Monday's, it will bring much colder air which will drop snow levels to 4,000 feet in the Washington and Oregon Cascades.

Today's storm will quickly cross through Washington and Oregon this afternoon. The next storm system will follow rapidly on its heels moving through Washington and Oregon tonight and early Wednesday. The result will be more drenching rain, gusty coastal winds and mountain snow.

While hurricane-force wind gusts were reported near the coasts of Washington and Oregon on Monday, today's storm will not be capable of producing winds of this magnitude.

Winds near and along the coastline will gust to 50-60 mph at times today. These winds will still be capable of downing trees and power lines as well as causing structural damage to homes and businesses. These high winds will also be capable of impacting high-profile vehicles.

Bouts of moderate to heavy rain and blustery conditions will be found throughout the interior of the Northwest.

Seattle and Portland areas could pick up an additional 1-2 inches of rain. However, the heaviest rain will likely fall across southwestern Oregon and parts of northern California, where 2-4 inches of rain could fall.

According to AccuWeather's Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "Additional rain is likely to continue to raise river levels and cause more flooding problems. Also the chance of landslides is going to increase as well."

Clark added, "Snow levels in the Cascades will be lower with the next two storms, lowering to around 3,000 feet in the north to 4,000 to 4,500 feet in the central Oregon Cascades. Another 2 to 4 feet of snow can fall above 5,000 feet the next two days".

Locations around 4,000 feet could pick up 3-6 inches of additional snowfall. As the cold fronts associated with each system pass through the Cascades, snow levels will lower to near or slightly below the passes by Wednesday morning. These passes could become slippery at times.

It appears that there may be a break from the rain and wind for Thanksgiving Day as high pressure briefly builds into the region. Another front will likely reach the region late on Thursday night and into Friday bringing more rain and mountain snow.

 

 

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