Our stretch of warm and sunny weather continues. At the heart of it, each day appears very similar to the last. This persistent weather pattern is thanks to a strong high-pressure ridge parked over central British Columbia. The two primary relevant weather factors become subtle differences in temperature and winds from location to location and day to day.
Temperatures: Weather stations this morning from I90 north show overnight temperatures in the low and even mid 40's! Sites further south continue to experience windier and slightly cooler conditions. While the rise in freezing level seems gradual, or in some cases non-existent, this might not reflect the marked increase in temperatures you experience. Expect each day and night to be warmer than the last. On Thursday, many trailheads will reach well into the 50's or even 60-degree range. While some mountain passes and valleys may form weak inversions overnight, most locations should stay relatively warm with temperatures well above freezing. This pattern will continue until we hit the peak of the warm-up over the weekend.
Winds: Strong easterly winds continues for areas from Mission Ridge south to Mt Hood. While we may see a slight decrease in wind speeds compared to previous days, moderate to strong winds will remain for these same mountain locations. For now, the winds don't seem to significantly subside until we head into the weekend. Further north, generally calm winds prevail allowing for you to feel the full brunt of the warm springtime weather.
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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Thursday
Sunny and warm. Calm winds.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Calm winds.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Calm winds.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Calm winds.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Light winds becoming calm.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Calm winds becoming light.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Moderate to strong E winds decreasing slightly in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Moderate E winds becoming strong overnight.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Moderate E winds decreasing in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Light E winds becoming moderate overnight.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Moderate E winds decreasing in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Light E winds becoming moderate overnight.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Moderate to strong E winds decreasing throughout the day.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Light E winds.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Strong E winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Moderate to occasionally strong E winds.
Thursday
Sunny and warm. Strong ENE winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Clear and warm. Moderate ENE winds becoming strong overnight.
Thursday
Sunny. Strong ENE winds decreasing slightly in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Clear. Strong ENE winds becoming very strong 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).