Hurricane Ridge gets season’s first trace of snow

Published 12:01 am Friday, September 4, 2015

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Hurricane Ridge was briefly dusted with snow early Thursday, giving visitors a glimpse of the coming winter weather.

It was the first sight of snow this season. And it was quickly gone.

But it may fall again today.

Between 8:28 a.m. and 9:29 a.m. Thursday, two-hundredths of an inch of snow were measured at a weather station on the Ridge at 5,262 feet of elevation, said Josh Smith, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

There is a 20 percent chance of rain or show showers at the higher elevations of the Ridge again today, Smith said.

“It’s a little early in the season to get snow at Hurricane Ridge,” he said.

He added that the snow is not likely to return soon after this weekend if the weather returns to the warm and dry pattern forecasters expect.

Smith said a series of upper-level lows cooled the higher elevations and dropped the snow level to about 5,500 feet, with heavier showers bringing snow to even lower elevations.

Olympic National Park spokeswoman Rainey McKenna said park rangers reported there was no snow at the Hurricane Ridge visitor’s center, but there was snow on the ridge above.

Hurricane Ridge received so little snow last winter that it had no ski season.