February 22, 2023

Forecast: February 22, 2023

Last updated 5:30 PM, Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023 

By Olivia Lee and Abi King

Happy Wednesday, Huskies! 

Quite the winter wonderland we have today! Early this morning we saw a burst of snow due to cold arctic air from BC meeting easterly winds from the Cascades. This led to rising motion which instigated some precipitation in the form of snow! Although today’s snowfall has wrapped up for the day in Seattle, it still made for a fun walk to class. Here is a picture that one of our forecasters snagged in the Quad this morning!

Today our DAWG of the week, Rosie, will spread some warmth into our chilly forecast with her adorable puppy eyes!

Today’s clouds will roll out of the area by early tomorrow morning and clear skies will stick around until Saturday. Although the sun will be shining, don’t be fooled because it will be COLDDDDDDDD! Tonight, temperatures will plummet into the upper-20s and tomorrow’s high will barely break freezing. However, the radiative cooling due to clear skies will enable the coldest temperatures of the week to make an appearance early Thursday and Friday mornings, pushing down towards the frigid 20s. With these temperatures we are running well below our normal this time of year which hang around a high of 48 and a low of 32.

The lack of moisture in the air will squander any chances for snow through the rest of the work week. However, a different picture is painted for Saturday with the return of precipitation overnight into Sunday. There is potential for more snow with the onset of this precipitation, however the amount of snowfall expected depends on a weak warm front to the south that will move towards the area late Saturday night. Some weather models enthusiastically call for 3 inches of snow in the Seattle area while others are adamantly stating no snow whatsoever. The Dawgcast will report any exciting updates as the forecast becomes more certain in the near future.

Even though this weather has made it feel like we’ve taken a step back into dreary winter weather, our later and later sunsets are reminding us that Spring is on the way! Within a week, the sunset will reach a milestone of 5:30pm and in 4 weeks we will finally see it set at 6:00pm. Even though we will be bundling up for this week’s freezing weather and another potential round of snow, we can at least rest assured that warmer, brighter days are on the horizon.

Reach forecasters Abi King and Olivia Lee at theuwdawgcast@uw.edu or on Twitter @TheUWDawgcast and Instagram @UWDawgcast