**WHITE CHRISTMAS HERE LOOKING UNLIKELY (but not zero!)**

Now through Christmas Day, about 4-5 medium to low end strong storm systems will bring periods of rain totaling up to 3-4" and 1-2 feet of total new snow in the Cascades. Could see a strong storm on Dec 21 and Christmas Day, but this is still far enough away for anything other than low accuracy. Snow levels will mostly fluctuate at 3000-4000' but could lower to near 2000' at times. Will have to keep an eye on Mon-Tue to see how much cold air is in place with a storm coming in which could drop snow levels to 1500-2000' under the right circumstances.

WINDS: Saturday may get a little breezy with wind gusts 20- 30 mph possible.

FOG: In between storms, night and morning fog will be possible but with all the storms coming in the fog will only stick around for a a day or two at most. For fog to form here, we need a stable atmosphere from high pressure not low pressure, calm to very light winds, and enough moisture in the ground (from a recent rain) so it can evaporate and get trapped (have no place to go) under the high pressure. We've had a lot of high pressure over the past 5-10 days and that's why fog was so persistent. Usually it's raining a lot this time of year and not dry for such an extended time.

Freezing temps at night: As it looks right now, lows over the next 10-15 days are expected to stay above freezing. However, if enough cold air is in place between storms, we could see a day or two flirting with 32-34°.

I've been talking a lots about snow and things were looking promising at times over the past 10 days or so, but cold air didn't align just right which eliminated snow possibilities here.

Water Year to Date Precipitation is at 11.20" - 14.17" (depending on what weather station you're looking at). Normal to date is around 13.50". HOWEVER, we've only had less than 1/2" of rain so far this month. Normal is 7.37" and by the looks of things Dec may close out at below normal (lets all wash our cars so it rains a lot). Check out the snow pack map - looks great! Water year for both rain and snow start on October 1, ends Sept 30.