Triple threat in forecast

Another round of wet, blustery weather is heading our way, and there's a good chance most of the Puget Sound region will see snow — possibly several inches of it — between tonight and Wednesday morning.

Weather forecasters, utility crews and transportation workers are all keeping an eye on the powerful storm system that's been building off the coast of Alaska and is expected to hit the Puget Sound region around noon today. A second system will move in late Wednesday, bringing bone-chilling temperatures that aren't expected to heat back up until Sunday.

There will be rain before and after today's storm system passes through, then the winds will pick up and temperatures will drop, making snow a real possibility tonight into Wednesday morning, said Dennis D'Amico, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Seattle.

Today, the Seattle area is likely to see sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts up to 45 mph, with the most powerful winds expected in the afternoon before dying out overnight, D'Amico said. But Seattleites "won't see the worst of it," he said. This storm's real wallop will come in Snohomish County and Admiralty Inlet and range all the way up to western Skagit County, areas that could see gusts up to 60 mph, D'Amico said.

Though the winds expected today will be powerful enough to knock over trees and down power lines, this storm — unlike the other storms that have battered the region in the last couple of months — won't be as widespread nor as long-lasting, he said.

And while forecasters are calling for snow tonight, with 1 to 4 inches possible in the interior lowlands and 6 to 8 inches expected at Snoqualmie Pass, "it's a little tough to call" where and how much snow could accumulate, he said.

But with snow levels dropping to sea level tonight, any moisture that falls is "going to be snow," D'Amico said.

The morning commute on Wednesday could be dicey, given the likelihood of compacted snow and ice on local roadways and even snow showers in some areas.

By Wednesday night, arctic air will push down through British Columbia's Fraser Valley, causing temperatures to plummet to the point that "we may struggle to reach freezing on Thursday," D'Amico said. Localized snow showers are also possible.

"This system is strong enough, with enough force, that we'll experience a real cold front coming through," with temperatures Thursday and Friday potentially dropping into the teens, D'Amico said. By late Saturday and into Sunday, "it will start to warm up a little bit," he said.

Though the storms expected this week are fairly typical for a Northwest winter, this season has been anything but normal, said Neil Neroutsos, a spokesman for the Snohomish County Public Utility District.

"We've had three significant storms within a little more than a month and a half, and a fourth is on its way," he said. "It's definitely unusual."

A snowstorm in late November knocked out power to 60,000 PUD customers. It took six days to restore power, at a cost of $6.2 million, Neroutsos said. Twice as many customers lost power during the Dec. 14-15 windstorm. It also took six days to restore power and cost the utility $6.5 million to repair, he said.

Those figures are significantly more than the previous high of $3.9 million the utility paid to repair its power system after the Inauguration Day storm of 1993.

Across the region, the Dec. 14-15 storm knocked out power to about 1 million people.

Last week, winds cut power to 105,000 PUD customers, all of whom were back online by Sunday evening, said Neroutsos, who couldn't provide a cost estimate for the latest storm damage.

"We're at the mercy of Mother Nature to an extent," Neroutsos said. "We'll take it as it comes."

Crews for Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light are also ready to spring into action, representatives for the utilities said.

Power crews aren't the only ones who've been exceptionally busy this storm season: Avalanche-control crews on Snoqualmie Pass have worked hard in recent weeks to clear snow from avalanche chutes so that Interstate 90 can remain open.

"We're definitely within the top 10 seasons for snowfall over the last 35 years," said John Stimberis, an avalanche forecaster for the state Department of Transportation. As of Jan. 1, the snowpack at Snoqualmie Pass was "150 percent of normal," he said.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com