Worst blizzard since '85? Seattle braces for storm

SEATTLE?? A "potential major winter storm" that could dump twice Seattle's annual snowfall on the city over the course of two days was headed for the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, weather.com reported.

Chris Dolce, a meteorologist with weather.com, wrote that travel could become "dangerous or impossible" by Tuesday night in areas including Seattle, Olympia, Bellingham as well as Portland, Ore.

At 3:15 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Weather.com was predicting that Seattle could be hit with up to 12 inches of snow in the next 48 hours. Up to 10 inches was also expected in Portland.

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"Keep in mind, average annual snowfall is only 2.4 inches in Portland and 5.9 inches in Seattle, so these amounts are very significant for these metro areas," Dolce added. "According to the National Weather Service in Seattle, Wash., snow amounts from this storm could exceed anything seen since November 1985 at Sea-Tac airport."

Docle said that "several feet of snow" was expected to pile up in Cascade and Bitterroots mountains.

PhotoBlog: Snowy in Seattle ? Winter storm snarls traffic

According to Dolce's forecast, snow was likely to spread well inland across the interior Northwest into the Northern Rockies. Spokane, Wash., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Kalispell, Mont. and Missoula, Mont. will all deal with substantial amounts of snow and rough travel conditions, weather.com reported.

"There is a chance that an area of localized heavier snow could develop in the Seattle metro area Monday night into Tuesday morning along the arctic frontal boundary," Dolce added.

Meanwhile, a National Park Service official said late Monday that a 66-year-old snowshoer who was found alive on Mount Rainier after three days has been rescued.

It took nine hours to bring Yong Chun Kim out of the backcountry, spokeswoman Lee Taylor added.

He became separated from a group he was leading on the mountain, about 100 miles south of Seattle.

The Associated Press, weather.com and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46021017/ns/weather/

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