Whatcom storm ushers in what looks like a warmer and wetter month. Here’s when it arrives
Expect a wet and windy storm to hit Whatcom County this week as the new year looks warmer and wetter than normal, according to the National Weather Service and the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
A strong front will move through Western Washington on Wednesday night, Jan. 4, bringing wind and rain, said Carly Kovacik at the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“Gusts to 50 mph will be possible at times Wednesday night into Thursday (Jan. 5). This system will also bring more favored chances for more widespread precipitation in the near-term forecast, with rain spreading across the area from south to north Wednesday night into Thursday,” Kovacik said in the online forecast discussion.
Snow levels will drop below the passes, but only light accumulations are expected, she said.
Highs Wednesday will be in the mid- to upper-40s, while highs on Thursday will top out in the low 50s.
It’s part of a 30-day trend that could be signaling the end of a rare three-year La Niña, a weather pattern that usually means colder, wetter weather in the Northwest.
Forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center show a greater chance of above-normal temperatures and above-normal rainfall in the one-month prediction cycle.
At the same time, there are signs that the La Niña cycle that’s affected global weather patterns for the past three years may be changing to neutral, according to the latest El Niño Southern Oscillation report.
But climate models were split on whether that will happen, according to the report.
