A Pacific front produced heavy snow at Mt Baker.
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.
A Pacific front produced heavy snow at Mt Baker.
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 18, 9:37 PM PST, 2 hours 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
1037 PM PDT TUE MAR 18 2014
MINOR CORRECTION MADE TO THE 4TH PARAGRAPH IN THE SHORT TERM
SEGMENT.
.SYNOPSIS...A COLD AND VIGOROUS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM EMANATING OUT
OF THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL CONTINUE HEADING TOWARD THE AREA
OVERNIGHT. THIS SYSTEM AND THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP
ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE DAY WEDNESDAY. COOL NORTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT WILL PREVAIL ON THURSDAY FOR SOMEWHAT UNSETTLED CONDITIONS.
HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL MOVE OVER THE REGION ON FRIDAY.
&&
.SHORT TERM...
THERE WAS SOME LIGHT PRECIP OVER THE NORTHWEST QUARTER OF THE CWA
LATE THIS EVENING. EXPECT THE PRECIP TO GRADUALLY SPREAD SOUTHEAST
OVERNIGHT.
A COLD AND VIGOROUS TROF AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT EMANATING OUT
OF THE GULF OF AK WILL MOVE ACROSS THE CWA DURING THE DAY WED. THE
SNOW LEVEL WILL PLUMMET TO NEAR 1500 FEET BEHIND THE FRONT AND
FALL EVEN FURTHER WED NIGHT. THE HEAVIEST PRECIP WILL OCCUR DURING
THE DAY...WITH THE CASCADES /ABOVE 1500 FEET/ LIKELY PICKING UP A
QUICK 6 TO 11 INCHES. EXPECT A COUPLE OF MORE INCHES OF SNOW WED
NIGHT...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS OCCURRING WITHIN ANY CONVERGENCE
ZONE.
THE AIR MASS WILL BECOME UNSTABLE OVER THE CWA IN THE WAKE OF THE
COLD FRONT AND WITH SNOW LEVELS PLUMMETING TO LOW LEVELS...CANNOT
RULE OUT THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVIER PRECIP FALLING AS SNOW ON THE
LOWLANDS. SOME OF THE CASCADE VALLEYS...INCLUDING NORTH BEND AND
GOLD BAR...WILL LIKELY SEE PRECIP CHANGE OVER TO SNOW EITHER LATE
IN THE AFTERNOON OR DURING THE EVENING. ELSEWHERE...SMALL HAIL
OR GRAUPEL IS A GOOD BET WITH THE HEAVIER SHOWERS...ESPECIALLY
WITH ANY TSTMS THAT DEVELOP. DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF THE HAIL OR
GRAUPEL COMPLETELY COVERS THE GROUND.
LOOK FOR A COUPLE OF CONVERGENCE ZONES TO DEVELOP IN THE WAKE OF
THE FRONT. THE PUGET SOUND CONVERGENCE ZONE /PSCZ/ IS EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP OVER ITS FAVORED AREA /SOUTHERN SNOHOMISH COUNTY/. IT WILL
LIKELY BE QUASI-STATIONARY /DRIFTING NORTH OR SOUTH AT TIMES...
DEPENDING ON WHICH WINDS WILL BE STRONGEST...THE SOUTHWESTERLIES
OVER THE SOUTH SOUND OR THE NORTHERLIES IN THE NORTH SOUND/. ANOTHER
CONVERGENCE ZONE IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTHERN VANCOUVER
ISLAND AND EXTEND SOUTHEAST INTO SKAGIT COUNTY. WILL NEED TO KEEP AN
EYE ON THESE CONVERGENCE ZONES BECAUSE IF STRONG ENOUGH...THE SNOW
LEVEL COULD BE PULLED DOWN TO NEAR SEA LEVEL. 05
WEST TO NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT
THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING. MOST MODEL SOLUTIONS INCREASED MOUNTAIN
AND CONVERGENCE ZONE SHOWER ACTIVITY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND
EVENING AS ANOTHER WEAK SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVES BY IN THE WESTERLY
FLOW...THOUGH SKIES FOR THE MOST PART WILL BECOME PARTLY CLOUDY IN
A SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR MASS.
THE AIR MASS FINALLY DRIES OUT LATE THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY AS
A WEAK UPPER RIDGE MOVES ACROSS THE AREA AND WEAK SURFACE HIGH
PRESSURE MOVES BY TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA ACROSS SOUTHERN BRITISH
COLUMBIA. TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY REMAIN RATHER COOL ON FRIDAY.
ALBRECHT
.LONG TERM...
LONG WAVE RIDGING WILL GRADUALLY BUILD OVER THE WEST
COAST THIS WEEKEND THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...BUT A WEAK SHORT WAVE
TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THAT RIDGE WILL BRING CLOUDS AND A CHANCE OF
LIGHT RAIN TO THE AREA SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT. SUNDAY INTO
MONDAY WILL SEE DRYING AND WARMING AS THE RIDGE AMPLIFIES AND
GRADUALLY MOVES INTO EASTERN WASHINGTON. THE GFS...AND TO A GREATER
DEGREE THE ECMWF...SHOW OFFSHORE FLOW WITH 500 MB HEIGHTS IN THE MID
560 DAM AREA SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY. SUNDAY MAY BE A BIT
WARMER BY A COUPLE DEGREES THAN CURRENTLY ADVERTISED...AND MONDAY
MAY SEE SOME LOW TO MID 60S AROUND AROUND THE NEXT FRONT THAT WILL
MOVE INTO THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT OR TUESDAY. ALBRECHT
&&
.HYDROLOGY...
FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED ON AREA RIVERS FOR THE NEXT 7 DAYS.
&&
.AVIATION...WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. A FRONTAL
SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA...WITH A WARM FRONT TONIGHT...
FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT WEDNESDAY. AIR MASS MOIST AND STABLE...
BECOMING UNSTABLE BEHIND THE COLD FRONT ON WEDNESDAY.
CEILINGS ARE MOSTLY IN THE 2000-3500 FOOT RANGE THIS EVENING
ALTHOUGH PARTS OF PUGET SOUND HAVE LIFTED TO 6000-8000 FEET.
LOWER CLOUDS SHOULD BECOME WIDESPREAD WEDNESDAY MORNING AS THE MAIN
COLD FRONT MOVES ONSHORE. RAIN WILL CHANGE OT SHOWERS BY AFTERNOON
WITH A PUGET SOUND CONVERGENCE ZONE LIKELY OVER CENTRAL PUGET SOUND.
A STRAY THUNDERSTORM IS POSSIBLE IN THE CONVERGENCE ZONE WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
KSEA...MID LEVEL CLOUDS TONIGHT WILL LOWER TO MVFR WEDNESDAY
MORNING. LIGHT SOUTHEAST WIND TONIGHT WILL BECOME SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST
10-20 KNOTS WEDNESDAY. SCHNEIDER
&&
.MARINE...A FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE WATERS TONIGHT AND
WEDNESDAY. THIS WILL BRING SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY WINDS TO ALL WATERS
LATER TONIGHT OR WEDNESDAY WITH WESTERLY GALES IN THE STRAIT OF JUAN
DE FUCA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT.
EASING ONSHORE FLOW WILL PREVAIL THURSDAY...FOLLOWED BY LIGHT
OFFSHORE FLOW FRIDAY AND INTO THE WEEKEND. SCHNEIDER
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM WEDNESDAY TO NOON
THURSDAY FOR CASCADES.
PZ...GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM WEDNESDAY TO 3 AM THURSDAY
FOR THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR THE REMAINING WATERS.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR ROUGH BAR FROM 3 PM TO
11 PM WEDNESDAY FOR THE GRAYS HARBOR BAR.
&&
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE
FOR THE GRAPHICAL AFD...VISIT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATEST_WEBAFD.HTML1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
USFS NWAC station at Mt Baker measured 14 inches snow in 12 hours ending noon Mar 19, and 17 inches storm total.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, March 2014
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: 515577.