So is there any chance of snow n the Seattle area (Bellevue: power lines, house)

[mkarch]

Flakes, yes. Substantial accumulation below 500 ft? no.

Originally Posted by poopskooper

Ah, okay. So that doesn't explain it.

It just is probably the cycles in weather patterns then ...or the accentuated El Niño- La Niña effect?

I'm not an expert on this but I know there are some participants on this forum who are.

There used to be a Ski Area at Mt. Pilchuck but it stopped operation around 1980. The snow fall in the area was too variable. Some years there wouldn't be enough, and other years the lifts would be completely buried.

[Hemlock140]

Depending on where you live an the elevation, you can get more or less. We did have snow 4-5 times last winter but it never stuck to the road enough to cause concern, but we are at over 600' on the Sammamish Plateau. Most lowlands including Seattle got none. In our 20 years here we probably average 2-3 times a year when we have ti use 4WD or stay home due to snow, but some years none, and once we had 24" that lasted all week. Generally 1" will almost shut down everything, because the cities are not prepared to handle plowing/de-icing any more than just the major arterials. It would actually be a waste of money to buy more snowplows for the low frequency of snow. More troublesome is the black ice an freezing fog, which we can get 10-20 times a year and can be just as hazardous to drive in.

[poopskooper]

Originally Posted by mkarch

There used to be a Ski Area at Mt. Pilchuck but it stopped operation around 1980. The snow fall in the area was too variable. Some years there wouldn't be enough, and other years the lifts would be completely buried.

I used to ski there as a teenager!

So are you implying that it was because of global warming? Or that global warming had nothing to do with it?

Rhetorical ...you don't have to answer as we're going off-topic.

[isaackko]

I had to brush a couple inches of snow off of my car near greenlake one morning this winter. That's about it.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by isaackko

I had to brush a couple inches of snow off of my car near greenlake one morning this winter. That's about it.

You highlanders have it rough.

[west seattle gal]

Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker

I mean, can you count on snow at least a couple times a year?

Nope.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Nope.

You make me laugh

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Nope.

The odds are better than 50/50 that we'll have more than a couple occurrences of snow in a winter, but you can't really count on it. Sometime we have zero snow, sometimes 7-8 times in the winter. I'd say 90% of the time, it's less than an inch, and melts the next day.

[Sabinerose]

My question would be: "What kind of snow are you asking about?"

If you are asking if white frozen flakes fall from the sky at least 2 times a year...then the answer is yes, most definitely. If you are looking for those flakes to cover the ground and allow you sled from your front door...then the answer is no, don't count on it.

I lived in the Seattle area for 36 years and do remember schools and businesses being closed because there were a couple inches of snow on the ground. There were the memorable years where several inches fell and everything shut down...we were "snowed in" at those times. I also remember a year or two where it dropped below 0*...but it only stayed that way for one day or so. Mostly, I recall black ice or slushy frozen crap on the road that made you slide all over (when it did get cold enough to cause these).

If you are moving / living in Seattle, you can count on lots of rain during the winter, a few days when it snows a little and melts immediately, a couple dozen days when the roads are slushy and slick...and if you are "lucky", you may get a few inches of snow that stay around for a few days (seems like a Winter Wonderland for the first day or so and then gets annoying because too many people do not know how to function during such weather back there).

Having said all that...I actually miss winters in a sea-level elevation .

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker

I mean, can you count on snow at least a couple times a year?

As others said, no you can't really count on it, and you really don't want it to snow in Seattle. Even an inch will cause traffic to grind to a halt, several inches will turn a 45 minute commute into 8 hours or more.

seattle snow - YouTube

If it snows stay out of Seattle, if you're already there get your car in a garage and leave it there!