Temperatures cooled significantly overnight with higher elevation mountain stations reporting temperatures in the teens this morning. A weak upper level feature currently west of the Olympic peninsula will pass through the Cascades this morning. The shortwave trough will drive showers across the area this morning, especially for the Olympics and west slopes of the Cascades. Scattered showers will continue in the afternoon. High clouds associated with yesterday's slow-moving front will slide east of the Cascade crest this morning. Instead of clearing skies, incoming low-level clouds and moisture will generally keep skies cloudy across the mountains. Sunbreaks are most likely south of I-90 on both sides of the Cascades and on the east side of Mt Hood.
An incoming Pacific frontal system will reach the Olympics by daybreak and pass through the Cascades between 8-9 am. A trailing upper-level trough in SW flow will keep showers rotating in the area, with more moderate snow showers from about I-90 northward and over the Olympics through Sunday afternoon. In these areas, several inches of snow should accumulate above 2500' through Sunday afternoon. Look for winds to ramp up ahead of the front late Saturday night and Sunday morning across the region.
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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Saturday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning becoming scattered in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light to moderate snow developing after midnight. Ridgeline winds becoming strong.
Saturday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning becoming scattered in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light to moderate snow developing late. Ridgeline winds becoming strong.
Saturday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning becoming scattered in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light to moderate snow developing after midnight. Ridgeline winds becoming strong.
Saturday
Cloudy with light rain and snow showers in the morning becoming scattered in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light to moderate snow developing after midnight. Ridgeline winds becoming strong.
Saturday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning becoming scattered in the afternoon. Light to moderate west winds at Pass level.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light snow developing after midnight. Light to moderate east winds at Pass level.
Saturday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning becoming scattered in the afternoon. Light to moderate west winds at Pass level.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light snow developing after midnight. Light to moderate east winds at Pass level.
Saturday
Cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers near the Cascade crest.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light snow developing after midnight.
Saturday
Cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers near the Cascade crest. Becoming partly sunny further east of the crest in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light snow developing after midnight.
Saturday
Cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers near the Cascade crest. Becoming partly sunny further east of the crest in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light snow developing after midnight.
Saturday
Cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Becoming partly sunny east-side of the mountain.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening, then light snow developing after midnight. Ridgeline winds becoming strong.
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).