A frontal system brought heavy snow to the North Cascades.
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 frontal system brought heavy snow to the North Cascades.
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 Feb 10, 3:14 AM PST, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Seattle WA
314 AM PST Fri Feb 10 2017
.SYNOPSIS...A vigorous trough will bring windy showery weather to
Western Washington today with snow in the mountains. There will
also be minor coastal flooding along the inland waters, and some
river flooding will continue. A few showers will linger Saturday,
but an upper ridge will build into the region for dry weather
Sunday through Tuesday. A front will reach the area Wednesday.
&&
.SHORT TERM...Strong southwest flow aloft continues over Western
Washington early this morning, ahead of the upper trough offshore
centered near 46N/127W. The air mass is weakly unstable and moist
-- especially below 8000 ft or so -- with scattered showers
across the area. Temperatures were in the 40s at 3 am with winds
locally gusting to 25 to 35 mph at the coast and in the north
interior.
The offshore trough will move across the forecast area today,
bringing windy and showery weather. Its 994 mb surface low will
weaken to around 1000 mb as it tracks across the south end of
Vancouver Island late this morning and into southwest British
Columbia this afternoon. We can expect sustained winds 20 to 35
mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph, peaking midday and gradually easing
late in the day. A wind advisory is in effect for most of the
lowland zones.
The snow level will be 2500 to 3000 ft today, and the Cascades
should receive 4 to 11 inches of new snow. A winter weather
advisory is in effect. For the lowlands it will be a showery day,
probably with a weak Puget Sound convergence zone in the north
Puget Sound region. There should be 0.25 to 0.50 inch of rain at
the coast, but parts of the interior lowlands -- including most of
the Seattle area -- should get less than 0.10 inch of rain today.
The upper trough will move quickly east of the Cascades tonight,
and the flow aloft over Western Washington will veer to northwest
ahead of a large offshore upper ridge. Showers and winds will
decrease overnight. The air mass will cool, with overnight lows in
the 30s and patchy fog forming overnight.
The upper ridge will move inside 130W on Saturday. Skies should be
generally cloudy to start the day with patchy morning fog, but the
interior lowlands at least should have a partly sunny afternoon.
There is a chance of showers, but any precipitation over the
lowlands will be light and spotty. The mountains could get another
inch or so of snow, and the snow level will be 1500 to 2000 ft.
The upper ridge will build somewhat as it moves into the Pacific
Northwest Saturday night and Sunday, and this should be a period
of dry weather. Sunday should be a mostly sunny day, and slightly
warmer with highs in the mid 40s to lower 50s. McDonnal
.LONG TERM...The upper ridge will shift further inland Sunday
night and Monday, with weak low level offshore flow developing. It
will be another dry day, mostly sunny to partly sunny, and a
couple degrees warmer yet. Longer range models differ on when wet
weather will return to the forecast area. The new GFS run shows
some showers developing over the region Monday night, prior to the
arrival of more widespread frontal precipitation late Tuesday
through Wednesday. Other models keep the weather basically dry
until the front moves in Tuesday night and Wednesday. For now we
are discounting the outlying GFS solution. This will be a fairly
warm system with the snow level around 6000 ft. Thursday will
probably have some rain too. McDonnal
&&
.AVIATION...Strong S/SW flow will continue today with scattered
showers across the area. The air mass is moist and slightly
unstable with MVFR to low-end VFR conditions. Expect strong winds
at the surface with gusts to 40 kt possible, mainly this morning
and afternoon. Showers will taper off and winds will ease tonight
as this system exits. A ridge will bring drier weather late
tonight and Saturday. 33
KSEA...Showers in the vicinity today with cigs 2500-5000ft. S/SW
winds increasing this morning and afternoon with gusts to 30-40
kt possible. Winds easing this evening by 03-06z. 33
&&
.MARINE...The combination of high astronomical tide and low
pressure will result in 1-1.5ft tidal anomalies early this morning
for the interior coastlines - a Coastal Flood Advisory is in
effect.
A deep surface trough and associated 990-995 mb surface low will
shift inland this morning followed by a period of strong onshore
flow. Gales are likely across most waters. Winds will ease tonight
as this system weakens and exits. High pressure will bring
lighter winds on Saturday. The flow will turn offshore on Sunday
and continue through early next week. 33
&&
.HYDROLOGY...Hydrologically significant rainfall not
expected today with just some showers in the area and low snow
levels. The upper reaches of the rivers have crested with
the crest moving downstream to the lower reaches of most rivers
today. The exception will be the slow moving Chehalis where the
flood crest will not reach Grays Harbor until Saturday afternoon.
Flood warnings for the Deschutes and Newaukum rivers will come down
later this morning with the warnings coming down for the
Skookumchuck and White tonight into Saturday morning. The Chehalis
downstream from Centralia will crest late tonight into Saturday with
the flood warnings at Grand Mound and Porter continuing into late
Saturday night and Sunday. The notoriously slow receding Skokomish
will drop below flood stage on Saturday.
Once this round of flooding comes to an end this weekend no
additional flooding is expected next week. Felton
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...Wind Advisory until 3 PM PST this afternoon for Bellevue and
Vicinity-Bremerton and Vicinity-Everett and Vicinity-Hood
Canal Area-Seattle and Vicinity-Southwest Interior-Tacoma
Area.
Coastal Flood Advisory until 9 AM PST this morning for Admiralty
Inlet Area-Bremerton and Vicinity-Everett and Vicinity-Hood
Canal Area-San Juan County-Seattle and Vicinity-Southwest
Interior-Tacoma Area-Western Skagit County-Western Whatcom
County.
Flood Watch through this evening for Cascades of Pierce and
Lewis Counties-Southwest Interior.
Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM PST this evening for Cascades
of Pierce and Lewis Counties-Cascades of Snohomish and King
Counties-Cascades of Whatcom and Skagit Counties.
Flood Watch from this evening through Saturday evening for
Central Coast-Lower Chehalis Valley Area.
Wind Advisory until noon PST today for Central Coast.
Wind Advisory until 8 PM PST this evening for Admiralty Inlet
Area-Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Wind Advisory until 9 AM PST this morning for North Coast.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory for rough bar until 4 AM PST Saturday for
Grays Harbor Bar.
Small Craft Advisory from noon today to 4 AM PST Saturday for
Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville 10 To
60 Nm-Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville
Out 10 Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville To Cape
Shoalwater 10 To 60 Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville
To Cape Shoalwater Out 10 Nm.
Gale Warning until noon PST today for Coastal Waters From James
Island To Point Grenville 10 To 60 Nm-Coastal Waters From
James Island To Point Grenville Out 10 Nm-Coastal Waters
From Point Grenville To Cape Shoalwater 10 To 60 Nm-Coastal
Waters From Point Grenville To Cape Shoalwater Out 10 Nm.
Small Craft Advisory from 6 AM this morning to 4 AM PST Saturday
for Coastal Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island 10 To
60 Nm-Coastal Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island Out
10 Nm.
Gale Warning until 6 AM PST early this morning for Coastal
Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island 10 To 60 Nm-
Coastal Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island Out 10 Nm.
Gale Warning until 4 AM PST Saturday for Central U.S. Waters
Strait Of Juan De Fuca-East Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of
Juan De Fuca.
Gale Warning until 10 PM PST this evening for Admiralty Inlet-
Northern Inland Waters Including The San Juan Islands.
Small Craft Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening for West
Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca.
Gale Warning until 6 PM PST this evening for Puget Sound and
Hood Canal.
&&
www.weather.gov/seattle
You can see an illustrated version of this discussion at
www.weather.gov/seattle/gafd/latest_webafd.html1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Mt Baker NWAC station reported 14 inches snow during 12 hours ending 6 pm Feb 10.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, February 2017
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: 677561.