The second storm is expected to arrive Friday night through Saturday, picking up possible snowfall numbers and icy conditions. Portland and Seattle could see more than a year of snow before Valentine’s Day.
These cities experienced the first round of the storm Thursday through Friday morning, with Portland receiving 1 inch of snow.
A year of snow in one day for Seattle?
The latest snow event will arrive late Friday through Saturday, closer to Washington state and the stage for heavier snowfall.
“We’re still on course tonight until Saturday for a major snowstorm in the region,” said the National Weather Service in Seattle.
This is when the combination of storm, moisture and cold air can work together to produce as much as 6 inches in the Seattle subway and an additional four inches in the Portland subway, which is roughly what cities average in a years achieved. It comes on the heels of the 1-inch snowfall that Portland received Thursday.
The storm is expected to produce severe snow by the time of the evening shuttle in Seattle.
For a historical context, Seattle would need a little over 7 inches of snow on Friday to place it in the top 10 snowiest single days on record.
The city recently counted 6.4 inches of snow on February 8, 2019, but even that kind of snow days are still rare for Seattle.
Icy conditions will also be a problem. An ice storm warning applies to parts of Western Oregon, making travel nearly impossible.
“While a mix of snow and snow in places can be about an inch, you can expect mostly freezing rain,” says NWS Portland. Additional ice accumulations of a quarter to three-quarters of an inch are likely.
This is more than enough to weigh power lines and trees to the point of breakdown, leading to possible power outages.
These totals are dwarfed by the predicted totals over the higher elevations of the Cascades in Washington and Northern Oregon.
It is predicted that by Valentine’s Day, about 2 to 3 feet of snow will accumulate, providing difficult travel conditions for anyone planning to ride over mountain passes in the region.
While penetrating gusts can be expected in these higher altitudes, cities such as Portland and Seattle will blow at 25 to 40 km / h during the storms, which will sometimes bring cold fever in the respective cities to teenagers.
In towns like Multnomah Falls, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge, people who venture outside will be greeted by 40 to 60 km / h storm surges and blinding snow during the storms.
The evolution of these second storm factors is the amount of cold air that will linger before the arrival of the third and final storm of this winter pattern.
A third chance of snow on Valentine’s Day
The final action of the three storms is expected to be presented late Sunday through Monday.
Although unpredictable cold air is expected to linger in Valentine’s Day, it is not known how cold the air mass will be and whether it may be enough to support low altitude snow in Portland and Seattle.
At this point, the models suggest at least a mixture of rain and snow, as the trifects of winter storms come to an end.
“While many thought that winter might have missed us, it seems like it just took a little break,” says NWS Portland.
CNN meteorologists Monica Garrett and Michael Guy contributed to this report.