It is snowing in the mountains right now and the temperatures aloft are more appropriate for January than mid-June.
Winter in June (Photos)
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
Let me "warm up" by showing you the latest cam shots at Mt. Rainier's Paradise Ranger Station at approximately 5500 ft, where temperatures are around freezing and it is snowing. You want to throw a snowball...no problem.
Or a Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics, at a similar elevation? Yes, snow is falling.
And Crystal Mountain is a winter wonderland.
Or Stampede Pass, in the central Cascades, at only 4000 ft? You guessed it: its snowing.
Our friends at the Seattle NWS office even have a winter weather advisory for parts of the Cascades, warning of winter-like conditions and 4-8 inches of snow!
The temperatures over us are unusually cold and much more like the typical conditions of January. I can prove this using the marvelous upper air climatology capability available from the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center. Here is the climatology of 500 hPa (about 18,000 ft) temperatures at Quillayute on the Washington Coast. Red shows daily record highs, blue indicates daily record lows and black is average. The black dot show this morning's observation.
Today is a virtually tie for the record low for this date, or any date in June. BELOW NORMAL TEMPS ANYTIME OF THE YEAR.
CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe says this 'Juneuary' weather isn't abnormal
It's snowing on the North Shore — in June! (Photos)
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/snow-north-shore-whistler-juneuary-1.3635305
It's snowing on the North Shore — in June!
Photos and videos posted to social media on Tuesday show snow falling — and sticking to the ground — at Grouse, Seymour and Cypress Mountains.
Winter wonderland at Grouse
But before you think the summer season is officially bust, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe says this isn't abnormal.
"Cold low pressure systems often have a habit of sliding down to B.C. from Alaska during the month of June, bringing with it a much cooler air mass in the upper atmosphere," she said. "Hence our 'Juneuary' reputation."
The contrast between the cooler temperatures higher up in the atmosphere and the warmer ocean temperatures is the perfect setup for unsettled weather.
While it isn't as common to get snow below 1,200 metres in June, it's definitely not out of the questions and it has happened before. Back in 2011, Grouse Mountain even kept the runs open through the month of June.