Return of wet and chilly weather in store for the Northwest this week

After a relatively quiet weather pattern across the Northwest to round out the month of October, we may not have to progress too far into November to see a major change in the weather pattern. As the weather pattern begins to take a dive into the latter half of the week, residents may once again deal with cold and snowy conditions.

It has been a story of feast or famine across the Northwest in terms of precipitation so far this fall, with many cities along the Interstate 5 corridor falling short of their monthly precipitation averages. Meanwhile across the interior, it has been vastly different, as heavy snow yielded well-above-average precipitation totals courtesy of the major winterlike storm early this past week.

As the weather pattern begins to turn unsettled into midweek, AccuWeather meteorologists are predicting beneficial rain and snow to encompass a majority of the northwestern United States.

Following a comfortably mild and dry start to the week, the first of many disturbances arrived in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday spreading rain over part of the region.

As previously mentioned, this corner of the country has observed a rather dry stretch of weather this fall so far, especially for places south of Portland, where extreme drought is ongoing.

Hopes should not be dashed, however, as the round of wet weather on Tuesday will just be the first of multiple waves of moisture that will track into the Northwest. Through the end of the week, a persistent dip in the jet stream winds will allow for the general storm track to take aim at the region.

Wednesday and Thursday may end up very similar in terms of rain and snowfall coverage across the Pacific Northwest. One differing aspect of the forecast is that a few rain and snow showers will begin to expand east of the Cascades in Washington, northern Idaho and Montana.

Although some snow is in the forecast across the Cascades over the coming week, snow levels will largely remain above pass levels through at least Wednesday. As colder air filters in during the latter half of the week, however, snow levels will likely drop down to pass levels in Washington and Oregon.

As the series of unsettled weather continues into the day on Thursday, the threat for difficult travel conditions across mountain passes and in the high terrain will begin to increase. And for those still considering getting that season pass for area ski resorts, the upcoming forecast by late week into the weekend may persuade some to shell out the cash for a season pass.

Progressing into late week and the weekend, confidence continues to increase in the chance for a significant surge of cold air to move into the Northwest, along with some rain and snow.

Relief may be in sight for the drought-stricken areas of southern Oregon and Northern California late week into the weekend as well, hopefully helping to diminish wildfire threats going through the remainder of the season. Although it will take more than one potent storm to eradicate drought conditions across this region, this may only be the start of a more active weather pattern expected to set up as we progress towards the winter season.

The seasonably mild conditions that encompassed the region early this week will become a distant memory as well, as winterlike temperatures may become the new norm by the weekend.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.