Scattered showers continue to linger across the mountains this morning bring additional snow to several locations. The heaviest precipitation and greatest accumulations appear to occur in the Mt Loop area and on Mt Hood. Radar returns already show a narrow Puget Sound Convergence Zone focused on the mountains around Darrington. This feature should remain throughout the day and into the evening. While it may oscillate north or south slightly, the models don't expect it to travel too far in any direction. Down on Mt Hood, a nearby low-pressure should help favor additional snowfall and drive strong westerly winds Friday. As the low shifts south, look for winds in most of our mountain areas to decrease slightly in the afternoon and evening hours.
Snow showers will remain in the forecast overnight and into Saturday for most of our trailhead locations. Onshore flow will continue to push moisture up into the mountains and ringing out additional snowfall for locations near and west of the Cascade crest. While precipitation totals seem modest, many areas could pick up a few inches of snow in each 12hr time period. Look for strong westerly winds to increase Saturday afternoon ahead of our next winter storm.
Weather Forecast
Olympics
West North
West Central
West South
Stevens Pass
Snoqualmie Pass
East North
East Central
East South
Mt. Hood
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Friday
Mostly cloudy with isolated snow showers.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy with flurries possible. W winds increasing.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered snow showers.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with scattered snow showers.
Friday
Cloudy. Light to moderate snow. Convergence zone focused on the Mt Loop area.
Friday
Night
Cloudy. Light to moderate snow. W winds increasing overnight.
Friday
Mostly cloudy to cloudy with scattered snow showers. Strong W winds decreasing.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with scattered snow showers. W winds increasing.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered snow showers.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with scattered snow showers.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered snow showers. Strong W winds decreasing.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with scattered snow shower. W winds increasing.
Friday
Cloudy with isolated snow showers. Heaviest near the crest.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with isolated snow showers. Heaviest near the crest.
Friday
Mostly cloudy to cloudy. Isolated snow showers. Strong W winds decreasing slightly.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy to cloudy. Isolated snow showers near the Crest. W winds increasing.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with isolated snow showers. Strong W winds decreasing.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy with isolated snow showers. W winds increasing.
Friday
Light to moderate snow. Very strong W winds decreasing slightly in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with snow showers. Winds increasing overnight.
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).