Mountain Weather Forecast

Weather Synopsis for Thursday night through Tuesday

Thursday night should be pretty quiet on the weather front. Clouds will gradually increase and thicken ahead of our next weather system. You may find a few stray showers slipping into the Olympics or North Cascades, but most areas should stay dry. Look for cloudy skies, cool temperatures, and light winds across most of the forecast region. 

Things change quickly Friday morning as a developing low-pressure system begins to travel southward off the Washington coast. Recent weather models track the low a little further offshore than previous runs. If this trend holds, this would mean slightly less water for the area. However, quite a bit of uncertainty exists with this system and small changes in the position of the low-pressure could result in big changes in snow totals. Look for cold air and snow to spread across the mountains Friday morning, reaching Mt Hood around lunchtime. The storm hangs up near the Washington-Oregon border Friday evening focusing the precipitation in the mountains south of I90. Moisture swings around the spinning storm and approaches the Cascades from the east. When we see set-ups like this, it's a great opportunity for snow east of the Cascade crest. Areas in the Wenatchee Mountains, higher terrain around Yakima, Mt Adams, and Mt Hood could see the highest snow totals Friday afternoon and evening. With cold air firmly in place and snow levels continuing to drop, expect low-density snow, with small amounts of water turning into reasonable snow accumulations. 

The storm eventually gets on the move again Saturday morning heading south. It takes most of the precipitation with it, leaving only a few lingering showers and cold air in its wake. Areas further north and west should begin to see clearing Saturday. However, the exiting storm continues to push clouds up onto the mountains in locations east of the Cascade crest and south of I90.