Western WA weather: Why there’s snow in Everett but not in Seattle — yet

If you’re wondering what happened to the snow, you’re not alone.

“We got a little bit of warm air that crept into the Seattle area,” said Dana Felton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

But don’t put away your snow gear just yet! The winds will switch around mid-morning, bringing the cold air responsible for overnight snow in areas north of Everett down to the Seattle area, according to the weather service.

“When that happens, we’ll have a chance for an inch or two of snow,” Felton said, “but we’re talking late morning into the afternoon hours, and like I said, maybe an inch or two at most.”

The weather service issued a winter winter advisory — and canceled the winter storm warning that had been issued Monday — for up to 4 inches of snow until 7 p.m. Tuesday across the Seattle metro area.

There is also a winter weather advisory for wet snow, with up to 1 inch of accumulation possible, until 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Tacoma and Olympia area.

But in these areas south of King County like Tacoma and Olympia, the blast of cold air from the north may not cool the area down enough to see snowflakes, Felton said.

So it seems that for areas south of Everett, the predicted widespread snow event is looking a little bit more like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree — sparse.

A winter storm warning for up to 7 inches of snow remains in effect until 7 p.m. Tuesday for Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties.

Alaska Airlines thinned its flight schedule, which will affect about 100 flights Tuesday. Affected travelers will be contacted and rescheduled on other flights, the airline said.

On Tuesday, 186 flights arriving at or departing from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were canceled and 39 were delayed as of 7 a.m., according to the tracking website FlightAware.

Seattle University closed its campus and moved to virtual operations Tuesday through Thursday because of the weather, according to the university website.

State crews kept the express lanes of Interstate 5 pointing southbound all day Monday, and plan to keep them open that direction until at least 11 a.m. Tuesday. Typically, they are changed midday to point northbound from 11:15 a.m. until 11 p.m.

That decision was made because in the past, mechanisms within the gates were damaged by raising and lowering during freezing weather, said the Washington State Department of Transportation.

WSDOT kept the lanes open instead of closing them overnight because all-night traffic can help prevent or melt snow accumulations on the pavement.

Sound Transit had not announced service changes as of early Tuesday morning. The light-rail 1 Line typically operates well in snow, aided by overnight crews who run empty trains that knock ice from the overhead wires.

If you’re traveling through the Cascades, expect additional accumulations of 10 to 24 inches of snow through Wednesday morning, according to NWS. A winter storm warning remains in effect for the Cascade passes. Make sure to check travel requirement updates at wsdot.com.

Temperatures in the Seattle area will remain chilly all week, with highs hovering around freezing and lows in the teens and 20s, according to the weather service.

Water on untreated surfaces will freeze and likely remain frozen through Wednesday, according to the weather service, and WSDOT crews are treating roads to prevent black ice.

A list of King County cold weather shelter locations can be viewed on the King County Regional Homelessness Authority website, st.news/kingshelter. A list of Snohomish County cold weather shelters is at st.news/snoshelter.

There’s a small window for another chance of snow Thursday night into Friday morning before any precipitation will turn to rain, according to NWS.

“Once we transition to that warmer air on Friday, that’ll be it,” Felton said. “It just looks like rain at times over the weekend and highs near 50, so we’re going to have a wet Christmas, not a white one.”

Seattle Times staff reporter Mike Lindblom contributed to this report.