Snowfall scattered; threat lingers today

This time they mean it.

Maybe.

For the third straight day, the National Weather Service is predicting snow for Everett and surrounding cities.

Ever fickle, predictions for snow Thursday and Friday fell flat, with only a dusting of snow falling on the tops of some hills.

Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald

Tad Beckelman slides across the snow during a pickup game of ultimate frisbee Friday at Everett’s Kasch Park.

Forecasters were right if you lived in south Everett at Paine Field. And up to 6 inches of snow fell in Darrington. The Cascade foothills below Stevens Pass also got snow.

Up to 2 inches of snow (or possibly rain) was predicted to fall Friday night and this morning, the last gasp of a massive snowstorm that never materialized.

The National Weather Service issued another snow advisory for the Everett area Friday afternoon. This one will last until about 10 a.m. today, when the would-be snowstorm is expected to start moving out of the area.

Forecasters explained why they were off the mark.

The moisture was enough for a big snow, but the blast of arctic air that was supposed to make it cold enough to snow was run over by a wave of warm air.

“The cold air has decided it didn’t want to come down to (Puget) Sound,” said Julie Holcombe, a weather service meteorologist. “It has moved east.”

A few enterprising folks took advantage of the bit of snow that stuck near Paine Field, building several small snowmen Friday and attempting to sled on a mixture of snow and wet grass.

Carmen Hauetter was busy getting dusted by snowballs hurled at her – with surprisingly good aim – by her 5-year-old son, Marcus.

“I was waiting for it to snow,” she said at Kasch Memorial Park. “We don’t get it very often, so we wanted to go out and play in it.”

Nearby, Chris Gant was taking her fox terrier Rio for her first romp in the snow.

“She loves it,” Gant said. “Right when we got out here, she started getting into the powdered stuff.”

Although the snow proved shy in the lowlands, it came down hard in the mountains.

As much of 6 inches fell in Darrington, causing a few mishaps on roads, including sending a sports utility vehicle into a ditch on Highway 530. Snow stuck around most of Friday from Darrington to the outskirts of Arlington, but roads were clear.

The state Department of Transportation reported that all major roads in the county remained clear Friday. The Washington State Patrol had reported no major accidents linked to the weather as of Friday night.

After this morning, snow or not, temperatures will rise, so look for mostly cloudy skies and possible rain all weekend, Holcombe said. Next week, look for highs in the low 40s to upper 30s and lows in the low to mid-30s.

There’s a small chance of more snow early next week, but it’s more likely to rain, Holcombe said.

Statewide, The Associated Press reported that heavy snow dumped on Eastern Washington. Accumulations of nearly a foot are possible by this afternoon in some regions.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@ heraldnet.com.

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