"Kona Storm" In The Pacific Northwest

In Hawaii, the term Kona is used all the time, but it has two drastic meanings. If someone were to say "Kona Weather," then the weather outside is beautiful. On the other side of the coin if someone said, "Kona Storm," then the storm is going to be vicious. A storm that is currently, impacting the Pacific Northwest will be one for the memory books. Technically, this will not be a "Kona Storm," but I want to give you the impression that this is something the state of Washington has not seen in decades. For the true details of a Kona Storm, you can click here.

Not only will areas such as Seattle and Tacoma see a fair amount of snow, this storm will last for several days. If you look at the Water Vapor image from earlier this afternoon, you will see that the moisture from this storm stretches a long way.

What you are seeing in the image above, is the water vapor in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere. Green colors denotes rich moisture, black illustrating low levels of water vapor, and brown showing very dry areas in the mid and upper levels. Note that the center of low pressure in the upper levels sits in the north central Pacific Ocean, well away from land. Also, there is a huge ribbon of rich moisture extending from the low, adding fuel to the fire. What this picture indicates is that this storm will be around for a long time and will produce copious amounts of precipitation to the western United States.

In addition, very cold air that built up in Canada moved into Washington making most of the precipitation that falls in the form of snow and ice. The following image shows the cold air that was locked up in Canada, some of the coldest we have seen all season.

If this storm came a week or so ago, this would be a rain event for a majority of Washington, excluding the mountains. Now that cold air is locked in place, major snows will fall and when you get a lot of snow falling all at once, major problems will occur and this is why this storm is creating headlines.

Already this morning and afternoon, snow has been flying around Seattle and for the higher terrain. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning.

The radar image does not look too impressive, but as the storm evolves and matures, snowfall rates will increase and some of the mountains will see quite a bit of the white stuff.

Here is one model projection of snowfall for Washington over a 12 hour period, tonight into tomorrow afternoon. These numbers are quite impressive.

Yup, that's right, there will be a few locations that experience over 40 inches of snow in a 12 hour period. Due to this, the National Weather Service issued Avalanche Warnings for parts of the Cascade Mountains. Avalanches can cover entire highways, and even houses. Bottom line, a dangerous scenario is taking shape for this part of the country. By the time all is said an done, close to 100 inches of snow could fall in the Cascades.

Interesting Fact: In the image above, this computer model is putting out 41" of snow for Paradise. Did you know that from Feb. 19, 1971 to Feb. 18, 1972, Paradise, Washington recorded 1,224.5" of snow? That is no typo my friends.