NNW flow aloft maintains dry, cold weather from Friday through Saturday.
Temperatures are in the upper teens to low 20s at 5000 ft locations throughout the Pacific Northwest mountains. Chilly temperatures have also filtered down to trailhead locations. Most lowland locations throughout the Puget Sound are in the 30s while low elevations locals east of the Cascades area are in the 20s.
Cold clear nights and light winds allowed for strong radiational cooling Thursday night and the same is expected Friday night. On both Friday and Saturday, temperatures should gradually moderate under sunny skies. Expect colder temperatures to the west of the Cascade Crest on Friday. Locations near and east of the Cascade Crest will be colder on Saturday as light low-level E flow developing Friday night starts to form a cold pool with sub-freezing temperatures potentially entrenched or only moderating briefly at lower elevations in the afternoon.
Bring some extra layers and plan to bundle up, particularly during the morning hours.
Weather Forecast
Olympics
West North
West Central
West South
Stevens Pass
Snoqualmie Pass
East North
East Central
East South
Mt. Hood
Use dropdown to select your zone
Friday
Mostly sunny and chilly.
Friday
Night
Clear and cold.
Friday
Mostly sunny and chilly.
Friday
Night
Clear and cold.
Friday
Mostly sunny and chilly.
Friday
Night
Clear and cold.
Friday
Mostly sunny and chilly.
Friday
Night
Clear and cold.
Friday
Mostly sunny and chilly. Light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Friday
Night
Clear and cold.
Friday
Mostly sunny and chilly. Light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
The NWAC program is administered by the USDA-Forest Service and operates from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Seattle. NWAC services are made possible by important collaboration and support from a wide variety of federal, state and private cooperators.
The 5000’ temperature forecast does not imply a trend over the 12 hr period and only represents the max and min temperatures within a 12 hr period in the zone. The 6-hr snow level forecast, the forecast discussion, and weather forecast sections may add detail regarding temperature trends.
The snow level forecast represents the general snow level over a 6 hr time period. Freezing levels are forecast when precipitation is not expected.
*Easterly or offshore flow is highlighted with an asterisk when we expect relatively cool east winds in the major Cascade Passes. Easterly flow will often lead to temperature inversions and is a key variable for forecasting precipitation type in the Cascade Passes. Strong easterly flow events can affect terrain on a more regional scale.
Ridgeline winds are the average wind speed and direction over a 6 hr time period.
The wind forecast represents an elevation range instead of a single elevation slice. The elevation range overlaps with the near and above treeline elevation bands in the avalanche forecast and differs per zone.
Wind direction indicates the direction the wind originates or comes from on the 16-point compass rose.
Water Equivalent (WE) is the liquid water equivalent of all precipitation types; rain, snow, ice pellets, etc., forecast to the hundredth of an inch at specific locations. To use WE as a proxy for snowfall amounts, start with a snow to water ratio of 10:1 (10 inches of snow = 1 inch WE). Temperatures at or near freezing will generally have a lower ratio (heavy wet snow) and very cold temperatures can have a much higher ratio (dry fluffy snow).