It will be a showery and gusty day across Western Washington and some gusts through the Strait and Whidbey Island as well as the San Juans could be in excess of 40mph.  Elsewhere, breezes will gust over 30mph as scattered downpours move off the Pacific. 

This is associated with another area of low pressure moving into British Columbia.  Fortunately, the center of the storm is far enough north that we are able to avoid a widespread damaging wind event.

Temperatures will be in the 40s all day in the lowlands.  Precipitation will diminish late today and the winds will subside as well.

In the Cascades, heavy snow at times will cause travel problems through the passes.   More than a foot of snow has fallen at Stevens Pass, and six to 14 inches will fall throughout the Cascades above 2,500 feet through tonight before snowfall dwindles late.

The snow will taper off through the night, but there will still be some accumulations into Saturday.

New Year's weekend forecast is for calmer winds and less rain 

For Saturday, expect lighter winds and less precipitation, though we could still see an isolated shower for New Years 2012.

A bubble of high pressure will move across the Pacific Northwest and even give us a few sunbreaks.

By Monday, more rainfall moves into the region and mountain snows will again resume.

The snowpack has been seriously lacking compared to this time last year, though we will see massive increases in the pack through the next week, especially at elevations above 5,000 feet such as around Paradise and Mount Baker.