An intense winter storm that pounded the Pacific Northwest with heavy snow and wind Wednesday was just the first in an onslaught of powerful storms forecast to hammer the West into next week.
"There are quite a few storms lined up over the Pacific that will be coming onshore over the next several days," Weather Channel meteorologist Frank Giannasca said.
However, the storms should be mostly rain for most of the coastal cities that saw snow on Wednesday.
PHOTOS: Winter storm blasts Pacific Northwest
STORY: Snowstorm wallops Seattle area
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The storm dumped almost a foot of snow on Washington's capital, Olympia, the National Weather Service reported.
That amount was close to the city's 24-hour record of 14 inches. Seattle saw about 4-6 inches of snow.
Seattle and other school districts canceled classes in advance of the storm.
"I love it," said teenager Emily Hansen, who spent the morning with her mother taking photos of the growing piles of snow outside the Capitol in Olympia.
Her mother was more measured, mindful of what the days ahead could bring.
"A day or two it's fun, but after a while you start looking at accidents and slush and flooding," Pat Hansen said.
Alaska Airlines announced that it canceled 38 flights into and out of Seattle and Portland.
In Oregon, South Salem resident Donna Gross watched cars slip and slide and a few get stuck on the side of the road when she drove her daughter to Crossler Middle School.
"I had a Dodge Durango with four-wheel drive and brand new snow tires, and I still had to white-knuckle it," she said. "It was definitely dicey."
The high snow totals were the result of Arctic air that spilled down into the region from Alaska, combined with ample Pacific moisture, Giannasca said.
Amazingly, the moisture that fed the storm stretched all the way from the Philippines to the U.S. West Coast, some 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, he said.
Some welcome rain will make it down to the Bay Area and Sacramento today, the first measurable rain in San Francisco since mid-December, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Jonathan Erdman.
That will be followed by a string of storms off and on through Tuesday.
Rainfall totals from the storms will range from 10 to 20 inches along the Oregon and Northern California coasts, according to the weather service. About 4 to 6 feet of snow could pile up in the mountains of Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Stefanie Knowlton, The Statesman-Journal, Salem, Ore.
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