A New Month Brings The Same Old Winter Weather To The Northwest | WeatherBug
Main Menu
Responsive menu icon

A New Month Brings The Same Old Winter Weather To The Northwest

April 1, 2020
UPDATED By WeatherBug's Brandon Bush
As the rest of the U.S. has fully embraced spring, April rings in a wintry start to the Northwest.

The northern Great Basin, northern Rockies and the northern and central Plains keep the winter weather close as wintry mixes will blast through on Wednesday. The storm system has added one and a half feet to the snowpack at the higher elevations of the Cascades and up to 1 foot at the lower elevations. Snow will spread eastward across the Intermountain West and the northern Plains as the system barrels through the Rockies.

In the High Plains and northern Rockies, Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories continue until noon across central and western Montana while adivisoires across eastern Montana and the Dakotas continue until this evening. Here, between 2 and 5 inches will fall at the lowlands, with up to 10 inches toward the Bears Paw Mountains. Western and northern Montana are at the greatest risk, along with northwestern North Dakota. Winter Storm Watches have been posted for the Black Hills region of Wyoming and South Dakota where heavy snow is expected to develop tonight. Between 6 and 12 inches of heavy snow will accumulate across the Black Hills through Thursday night.

Gusty northwest winds will spill across Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas, with sustained winds between 15 and 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph possible. The combination of heavy winds and snow can create blizzard like conditions. If you must travel, take extra caution, especially on roads where ice has formed.The strong winds will also usher in a fridgid airmass with temperatures in the teens and 20s behind the storm systems cold front. These temperatures across the mountain West and northern Plains will range between 15 and 30 degrees below normal for early April. 

In addition to the heavy snow and cold, up to one and a half inches of rain is expected along the Pacific Northwest coast by tonight. With the seemingly non-stop rain that has already burdened the area, this extra rain may be enough to cause some minor flooding.

The system will cross into the central Rockies, Plains and Mississippi Valley late tonight and early Thursday. Remnants from the system will continue to bring light snow showers throughout the Great Basin and northern Rockies, especially parts of Utah and Nevada.

This snow and rain will further improve drought conditions across central Washington and Oregon where precipitation for the past three months is running 50 to 75 percent below normal. However, the driest areas of central California and the central Great Basin will miss out on much of the precipitation this time, though a system early next week may bring some relief.