We've had a perfect example this week of why weather prediction is a most inexact science here on the West Coast.

We were supposed to have cold weather all this week, with an "event" (possible ice storm) coming in late today, but with no significant accumulation.

It wasn't until early Thursday morning that the National Weather Service models picked up a series of snow storms coming in Thursday and Friday. EDit, later--actually they started hinting at it Wednesday evening, so I was able to stock up on food and firewood. I now have a 2 1/2 foot snowdrift covering my driveway, and there's no sense in shoveling it because the driveway will be drifted full again in an hour. By later tonight or tomorrow the freezing rain is supposed to get here, so I may as well wait until it melts!

For the reason the NWS was so late in picking up these storms, Dr. Cliff Mass of the University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Department explains why. His post explains graphically why we can't rely on weather forecasting out here.

An hour later: the freezing rain is here! At least that has been in the forecast all week!

And I'm not complaining--we need every drop!