Heavy Snow in Washington, March 19 to 20, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in Washington, March 19 to 20, 2002
Start: 2002-03-19T11:00
End: 2002-03-20T11:00
Location: Washington

March 19 to 20, 2002 · NWS SEW · 9 events in 9 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 9

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.

Heavy snow fell over parts of western Washington, closing mountain passes, schools, and airports. In the Bellingham area up to 9 inches of snow caused the airport to close and forced western university to cancel classes. In and near the mountains up to 30 inches of snow fell in 24 hours closing both Stevens and Snoqualmie passes for a day, as well as parts of other highways into the foothills. Up to 6 inches of snow fell in other areas such as the Port Angeles and Anacortes areas.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 19, 9:30 AM PST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 9:30 AM PST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
930 AM PST TUE MAR 19 2002

.SYNOPSIS...A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE NORTH ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON
TODAY...THEN STALL NEAR THE CANADIAN BORDER TONIGHT...BRINGING MORE
RAIN. COLD AIR OUTFLOW FROM THE FRASER RIVER WILL START LATE TONIGHT
AND CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY...SPREADING SUB-FREEZING AIR ACROSS
THE NORTHWEST INTERIOR AND THE STRAIT...AND UNDER THE STALLED WARM
FRONT...PRODUCING AREAS OF SNOW OVER THE NORTH. A PACIFIC FRONTAL
SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE REGION  THURSDAY...BRINGING MORE RAIN LATE
THURSDAY AND INTO THE THE WEEKEND.

.DISCUSSION...MODELS SHIFTED BACK TO A COLDER SOLUTION LAST NIGHT
COMPARED TO MONDAYS RUNS. 1ST FACTOR IS THE WEAK WARM FRONT MOVING N
ACROSS W WA THIS MORNING. WRMFNT RAIN IS SLOWLY SPREADING SPREADING N
INTO SRN PGTSND THIS MORNING...ENHANCED BY DIVERGENCE ALF IN RIGHT
ENTRANCE REGION OF 130KT 300MB JET ALG CANADIAN BDR. HOWEVER 850MB
WESTERLIES ABT 30KT ACRS OLYMPICS ARE CREATING A BIT OF RAIN SHADOW
OVER CNTRL PGTSND. WL WORD PGTSND ZONE A OCNL LGT RAIN. SAME
WESTERLIES ARE CAUSING OROGRAPHICALY ENHANCED SNOW OVER THE
CASCADES...THRU TONIGHT...SO WINTER STORM WARNING WL CONTINUE.

2ND FACTOR AND BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THE COLD AIR OUTFLOW FM THE FRASER
RIVER VALLEY ACRS THE NW INTR AND THE STRAIT STARTING LATE TONIGHT.
COMBO OF STRONG SFC HI MOVG SE ACRS ERN B.C. AND SLOW MOVING OFSHR
LOW APPROACHING THE AREA...GETS THE FRASER OUTFLOW GOING. WITH THE
WARM FRONT STALLING NEAR THE CANADIAN BORDER TONIGHT AND THE OUTFLOW
CRANKING UP...STAGE IS SET FOR POSSIBLE HEAVY OROGRAPHICALLY ENHANCED
SNOW ALONG THE STRAIT ON WED. LESS CERTAIN IS PLACEMENT AND MAGNITUDE
OF ANY SNOW CAUSED BY SLY WINDS THRU PGTSND OVER-RUNNING THE COLD AIR
UP NEAR WHIDBEY ISLAND. WL LIKELY ISSUE A WINTER STORM WATCH FOR THE
N INTR AND THE STRAIT WITH AFTN PACKAGE.

IN MEDIUM TERM...AVN IS FASTER IN BRINGING OFSHR LOW INTO PCPN RANGE
OF W WA. FNT NR 135W NOW SLIDES IN OVER THE COASTAL WATERS WED AFTN.
PCPN INCREASES WED NIGHT AS A WAVE MOVES UP THE FNT SUPPORTED BY GOOD
300 MB DIVERGENCE. MDL SLACKENS THE RAIN THU...AND PICKS IT UP AGAIN
THU NIGHT WITH ANOTHER WAVE...BUT BEST OPTION AT THIS POINT IS
PROBABLY TO BROADBRUSH THE FCST WITH PDS OF RAIN. UPR TROF REMAINS
JUST OFSHR 12Z SAT...FINALLY MOVS OVR WA 12Z SUN...NO REAL DRY SPELLS
IN SIGHT TIL MON. KAM
UIL 975 SEA 863 OLM 863

.SEW...WINTER STORM WARNING CASCADES AND OLYMPICS.
      .SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY COAST FOR ROUGH BAR AND STRAIT FOR WIND.

.KATX...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Western Whatcom

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: Western Whatcom forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, C King/C Pierce/X Ne Thurston/C Lewis

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: C King/C Pierce/X Ne Thurston/C Lewis forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, C Skagit/C Snohomish

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: C Skagit/C Snohomish forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, C&e Whatcom/E Skagit/E Snohmish

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: C&e Whatcom/E Skagit/E Snohmish forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, E King/E Pierce/E Lewis

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: E King/E Pierce/E Lewis forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Island/Ne Jefferson

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: Island/Ne Jefferson forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Ne Clallam

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: Ne Clallam forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, San Juan

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: San Juan forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 48.531, -123.025 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, W Skagit/Nw Snohomish

When: March 19, 11:00 AM PST to March 20, 11:00 AM PST
Where: W Skagit/Nw Snohomish forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Washington in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, March 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5280493, 5280494, 5280495, 5280496, 5280592, 5280593, 5280594, 5280595, 5280596.