Saturday and Sunday, the Pacific Northwest basks under the warmest temperatures of a prolonged dry spell. With high pressure dominant along the west coast, freezing levels will remain elevated in the 10,000-11,500 ft range for our entire forecast period Saturday through Sunday. Most mountain locations did not cool below 40 degrees Friday night. In some deeper valley locations, weak inversions dipped temperatures into the 30s, but temperatures should quickly rebound. Easterly low-level flow driven by a thermal trough along the coast continues to bring moderate winds Saturday morning, but the winds should ease as the day progresses.
Clear and mild weather with nearly calm winds aloft continues Saturday night. Low-level flow gradually switches westerly as an approaching trough moves down the Canadian Rockies.
Sunday features another very warm day with light and variable winds. Low-level westerly flow should keep high temperatures along the west slopes of the Cascades slightly cooler than Saturday.
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
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm. Light E winds at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild. Light E winds switching W at the Pass.
Saturday
Sunny and warm. Light E winds at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild. Light E winds switching W at the Pass.
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm.
Saturday
Night
Clear and mild.
Saturday
Sunny and warm. Decreasing moderate ridgeline winds becoming light.
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).