Travel Update: More snow on I-90, more blowing tumbleweeds in Tri-Cities

A winter storm system could continue to cause problems for post-holiday travelers crossing the Cascade Mountains on Sunday, but the wind it brought to the Tri-Cities should start to calm a bit.

The storm system is good news for the coming summer, as the snowpack is low for early winter in the Eastern Cascades. The snowpack runoff will feed the Yakima River, which is used to irrigate some crops and water lawns and gardens in the Tri-Cities area.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows the Eastern Cascade Mountains as abnormally dry or in moderate drought conditions as of the last day of 2019.

But it was bad news for those hoping to see the Quadrantids meteor shower, the first for 2020, on Friday and Saturday, as clouds obscured the night skies.

Travelers should be prepared for 5 to 9 inches of snow Sunday and 7 to 11 inches of snow Sunday night, said the National Weather Service.

The avalanche danger should be high Sunday in Northwest mountains, due to the combination of fluctuating snow levels, additional heavy snow and high winds, according to AccuWeather.

In the Tri-Cities wind gusts of up 32 mph were forecast for Saturday. Sunday should still be breezing with sustained wind speeds of 6 to 15 mph and wind gust of up to 21 mph.

After thousands of blowing tumbleweeds stranded cars and caused the closure of Highway 240 northwest of Richland on New Year’s Eve, the Washington state Department of Transportation had crews standing by over the weekend with more blowing weeds.

Colder than normal month forecast

Cloudy skies should help keep temperatures warmer than usual for January through the weekend in the Tri-Cities area.

Highs should be in the upper 40s or low 50s through Wednesday. Lows are forecast to remain above freezing through Tuesday night, according to the weather service.

But the warmer-than-normal temperatures are not expected to last.

The weather service predicts a month that is colder than the usual January in the Tri-Cities.

Normal highs for January in the Tri-Cities average about 41 degrees and normal lows average 29 degrees.

In the near term, temperatures are expected to drop to near normal for the month by the end of the work week.

December was warmer than usual in the Tri-Cities, with temperatures averaging about 2 degrees above normal, according to the weather service. On Dec. 20 the temperature was a balmy 65 degrees at the Tri-Cities Airport.

The Hanford Meteorology Station recorded one new daily temperature and tied another record on the same day in December.

Dec. 21 set a new high temperature record of 63 degrees, beating the previous record of 61 set in 1972.

The low temperature that day matched the warmest on record, 43 degrees, a record set in 1973.

The warm weather and precipitation that was below normal meant not much snow for the month. In Kennewick 0.75 inch of precipitation was recorded, which was 0.38 inch below normal.

At Hanford just 0.6 inch of snow accumulation was measured.

The windiest day of the month was the last day.

In the Tri-Cities, wind gusts of 46 mph were recorded. At Hanford similarly strong wind gusts created the freak tumbleweed storm.

This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 9:47 AM.