Another weather system brought more snow to parts of the western Washington interior.
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.
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
Another weather system brought more snow to parts of the western Washington interior.
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 Dec 24, 9:00 PM PST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA 900 PM PST WED DEC 24 2008 .SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER LEVEL AND SURFACE LOW WILL MOVE SOUTH OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT AND CHRISTMAS DAY...BRINGING SNOW SHOWERS. A WARM FRONT WILL BRING RAIN TO THE REGION FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...MARKING A CHANGE TO A WARMER AND WETTER WEATHER PATTERN FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON THAT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH NEXT WEEK. && .SHORT TERM...RADAR SHOWS SCATTERED SHOWERS NORTH WITH A MORE ORGANIZED LOOKING AREA OF SHOWERS JUST SOUTH OF THE CWA. THE SHOWERS ARE A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW AND FREEZING RAIN AND AT THE MOMENT NONE OF THEM ARE IMPRESSIVE. SATELLITE PICTURE SHOWS A LOT MORE SHOWERS OFFSHORE...ASSOCIATED WITH A SURFACE LOW MOVING SOUTH OFF VANCOUVER ISLAND. WITH THAT PICTURE...WOULD EXPECT MORE SHOWERS TONIGHT IN THE SOUTHWEST THAN IN THE NORTHWEST. SEATTLE AREA WILL PROBABLY ALSO SEE SOME SHOWERS. SO FAR AMOUNTS IN THE SHOWERS HAVE BEEN LIGHT BUT WILL NOT RULE OUT THE OCCASIONAL QUICK 2 INCHES OF SNOW...WHICH COULD HAPPEN PRETTY MUCH ANYWHERE. WILL PROBABLY SEE TEMPS FALL TO AROUND FREEZING TONIGHT...THEN REBOUND TO MID 30S CHRISTMAS DAY. SNOW SHOWERS REMAIN LIKELY ON CHRISTMAS THEN TAPER THURSDAY NIGHT. FRIDAY MORNING SHOULD BE RELATIVELY DRY IF MODELS ARE CORRECT. THEN A WARM RAIN EVENT BEGINS LATER FRIDAY. AT THIS POINT HIGHS ON FRIDAY LOOK TO BE IN THE UPPER 30S...LOWER 40S ON THE COAST...SO THE PRECIPITATION LOOKS TO BE ALL RAIN. THE RAIN WILL LAST INTO SATURDAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL DO MORE THAN WASH AWAY ANY RESIDUAL SNOW. IT WILL ALSO SCOUR ANY REMAINING COLD AIR OUT OF THE AREA...BRINGING US MORE SEASONAL WEATHER WITH HIGHS IN THE 40S...LOWS IN THE 30S... AND OCCASIONAL RAIN. BURKE .LONG TERM...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...WITH ALL THE WEATHER GOING ON IN THE SHORT TERM...HAVE LEFT THE SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY PERIOD WITH THE BROAD BRUSH RAIN FORECAST. GFS AND ECMWF ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE STRONG W FLOW DEVELOPING OVER THE REGION. WILL HAVE TO ADD A LITTLE MORE DETAIL SINCE THE LATEST GFS HAS SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY LOOKING MORE SHOWERY THAN JUST PLAIN RAIN. ANOTHER WARM FRONT HITS THE AREA WEDNESDAY. OF COURSE WITH ZONAL FLOW...TIMING GOES OUT THE WINDOW...SO EVEN THE LATEST MODELS AT THIS POINT AMOUNT TO CONJECTURE. HOW DID ONE FORECASTER SAY IT...WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE GLAD TO SEE A HIGH OF 40 AND RAIN? KAM && .AVIATION...COLD UPPER LEVEL LOW DROPPING DOWN OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON LATER TONIGHT INTO CHRISTMAS MORNING. BANDS OF SHOWERS ROTATING AROUND THE LOW MOVING THROUGH THE AREA THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS. INITIALLY THE SHOWERS WILL BE IN THE FORM OF RAIN BUT AS THE NIGHT WEARS ON THE PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL GRADUALLY CHANGE OVER TO SNOW. MOST OF THE SHOWER ACTIVITY MOVING INLAND OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON WITH VISIBILITIES LOWERING DOWN TO NEAR 1 MILES AND CEILINGS BELOW 1000 FEET. OUTSIDE OF THE SHOWERS STILL PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND WITH MULTIPLE CLOUD LAYERS BETWEEN 2000 AND 7000 FEET. THE LOW WILL MOVE EAST OF THE AREA THURSDAY AFTERNOON WITH THE SHOWER THREAT DIMINISHING. KSEA...FIRST BAND OF SHOWERS ROTATING AROUND THE LOW MOVING THROUGH KSEA AT 05Z. TEMPERATURE STILL WARM ENOUGH FOR PRECIPITATION TO BE IN THE FORM OF RAIN AND THE PRECIPITATION INTENSITY IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO CHANGE THE PRECIP TYPE INTO SNOW. A BREAK IN THE SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH ANOTHER BAND MOVING INLAND 12Z-18Z. GIVEN THE CURRENT SATELLITE TRENDS THE BULK OF THIS ACTIVITY WILL MOVE INLAND SOUTH OF KSEA. SHOWERS THAT DO HIT THE AIRPORT WILL BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW AND COULD DROP AN INCH OF SNOW IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. SHOWER THREAT DECREASING IN THE AFTERNOON AS THE LOW MOVES EAST. FELTON && .MARINE...GRADIENTS WEAKENING AS SURFACE TROUGH APPROACHES THE AREA. DEVELOPING 988MB SURFACE LOW NEAR 49N/131W AT 05Z MOVING SOUTHEAST OVER THE WEST PORTION OF THE COASTAL WATERS THEN INTO NORTHERN OREGON. OUTSIDE OF BRIEF GUSTY WINDS WITH THE SHOWERS WINDS WILL BE ON THE DECREASE OVERNIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. HEAVY SWELL ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW...BUOY 5 ALREADY OVER 20 FEET...WILL MAKE ITS WAY TO THE COAST THURSDAY. HEAVY SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT. ONCE THE WINDS DIE DOWN OVERNIGHT NO WIND ADVISORIES OR WARNING UNTIL LATER FRIDAY WITH THE APPROACH OF THE NEXT FRONT. FELTON && WA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY LOWLANDS AND MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AND THURSDAY AFTERNOON. HIGH SURF ADVISORY COAST. PZ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY COAST AND PUGET SOUND AND HOOD CANAL. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ROUGH BAR CONDITIONS GRAYS HARBOR. WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE FOR THE ENHANCED AFD PLEASE VISIT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATESTWEBAFD.HTML (ALL LOWERCASE)
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
630 PM PST WED DEC 24 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0252 PM SNOW 6 SSW POTLATCH 47.30N 123.20W
12/24/2008 M6.0 INCH MASON WA TRAINED SPOTTER
SNOWFALL SINCE LAST NIGHT. TOTAL 17 ON THE GROUND.
0317 PM SNOW 1 SSW GRASSMERE 48.53N 121.79W
12/24/2008 M14.0 INCH SKAGIT WA TRAINED SPOTTER
TOTAL SINCE MIDNITE. 30 INCHES ON THE GROUND.
0319 PM SNOW 5 NNW GRAND MOUND 46.88N 123.04W
12/24/2008 M4.5 INCH THURSTON WA TRAINED SPOTTER
SNOWFALL SINCE THIS MORNING. 13.5 ON THE GROUND.
0348 PM SNOW 1 SSW NORTH BEND 47.48N 121.79W
12/24/2008 M10.0 INCH KING WA TRAINED SPOTTER
SNOWFALL SINCE 3 AM. STILL SNOWING.
0547 PM SNOW 1 SSW NORTH BEND 47.48N 121.79W
12/24/2008 M10.0 INCH KING WA TRAINED SPOTTER
SNOWFALL SINCE 3 AM. STILL SNOWING. ELEVATION 660 FEET.
0420 PM SNOW 2 WSW WOODINVILLE 47.74N 122.14W
12/24/2008 M2.0 INCH KING WA TRAINED SPOTTER
FROM 6 AM TO 11 AM.
0522 PM SNOW N HAMMA HAMMA 47.53N 123.05W
12/24/2008 M8.5 INCH MASON WA TRAINED SPOTTER
SINCE 5 PM YESTERDAY. 24 INCHES ON GROUND.
&&
GRUBPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
1052 PM PST WED DEC 24 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1051 PM SNOW 3 NE MILL CREEK 47.89N 122.16W
12/24/2008 M2.2 INCH SNOHOMISH WA NWS EMPLOYEE
2.2 INCHES OF NEW SNOW WEDNESDAY MORNING.
&&
DF3 heavy snow, 2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
The winter storms over the past 10 days cost the city of Seattle about 850,000 dollars, this was not damage, but amount spent on personnel, equipment, and materials to combat the snow and ice.
In the Olympia school district, about 2500 square feet of Capital High School's roof collapsed under the weight of more than a foot of heavy snow that had accumulated for about a week.
Heavy snow of 4 inches fell.
Heavy snow of 4 inches fell.
Heavy snow of 9 inches fell.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, December 2008
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: 142771, 142665, 141135, 141136, 141137.