The weather will be more tranquil over Monday and Tuesday with a few scattered showers in the lowlands tonight and Monday, but most of the precipitation will be light snow in the mountains above 2,500 feet.  

A weak ridge of high pressure is enough to dry the area out on Tuesday with some spots of sunshine around the Sound.

Our next focus for significant weather will be Wednesday through the end of the week.  A vigorous low pressure system in the central Pacific will move into the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday.  The center of the heaviest weather may be just to our south across northern Oregon, but it will be close enough by far to bring gales to the coast and Strait, strong winds and heavy rain elsewhere in the lowlands,  and another round of very heavy snows to the mountains.

Right now, the mid-week system doesn't look to bring major damaging winds, but a few more tree limbs will probably come down across the coast, Strait, islands and north.   Gusts over 50mph will be possible.  

For the rest of the lowlands, plenty of leaves that are ready to fall will come right down in heavy rains and jam up storm drains once again.

The mountains above 3,000 will be pounded with perhaps two feet of snow coming down in some of the higher ski areas, and upwards of a foot in the higher passes.  It'll be close at Snoqualmie Pass, and right now those having to travel on Wednesday through Snoqualmie should prepare for a mix of rain and snow.   Travel problems are likely on mountain highways Wednesday.

Colder air blasts Western Washington in wake of Wednesday storm

The coldest air of the season will bring chilly lowland rains with more mountain snow on Thursday and Friday.  Highs will struggle to reach the mid 40s in Seattle and lows will be in the 30s.

Looking closely at the forecast freezing levels, it looks like the lowland snow threat is very low on Thursday and low on Friday.

By Friday night and Saturday, the freezing level will plunge into the lowlands to perhaps between sea level and 500 feet.   For several days now, both long-range forecast models we most commonly look at, the GFS and the European, have been in general agreement as to the strength of this cold airmass coming south out of British Columbia.

However, before folks start really talking up lowland snow for next weekend, we take a step back and look at the available moisture.

Right now, it looks likely that precipitation will be shutting down during the Friday/Saturday time frame.   By late Saturday and Sunday, we could be mainly dry in the lowlands with a few lingering snow showers in the mountains.

While there will be rain and snow in my official KIRO 7 forecast for Saturday, the forecast is for light rain and/or light snow.  

If that forecast verifies, "lowland snow" could be around as a curiosity to start next weekend, but not as a significant travel threat.  

You're probably going to have to go into the foothills and mountains to get a good snowball fight going.  Stay with KIRO 7 and KIROTV.com for the latest as we head through the week on this forecast.  There are bound to be a few changes.