Stormy weather prevails across the region this morning with heavy precipitation, gusty winds, and cooling temperatures. The pattern will continue throughout the day and night. A cold front is currently positioned over the Puget Sound and will sweep over the Cascades in the next few hours. As cooler air moves in with this feature, snow levels should start to lower. Often behind a front, precipitation and wind speeds will ease. That is not the case today. A very strong jet stream and plenty of moisture will stay aimed at the Pacific Northwest. This should maintain moderate to occasionally heavy precipitation. This afternoon, convection may enhance some showers and produce intense periods of snowfall. As the front passes, winds should turn more westerly and increase. We're in for a prolonged period of very strong and gusty winds that will likely last until Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday the jet stream will slowly start to move and weaken as a high-pressure ridge begins to build over the area. There's plenty of uncertainty around how fast this will occur. Right now, we expect showers to linger in the morning as northwesterly winds and low-level moisture combine to push snow up into the mountains. A Puget Sound Convergence Zone should bring locally heavier precipitation to the Central Cascades near Hwy 2. By the afternoon, showers should start to come to an end, and many locations could even see significant sun breaks. This will be most likely in areas further south and east in the forecast zone.
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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Monday
Stormy with periods of heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty WSW winds increasing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Stormy with periods of heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Stormy with periods of heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty WSW winds.
Monday
Night
Stormy with heavy precipitation. Strong and gusty WSW winds.
Monday
Stormy with periods of heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty SW winds increasing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Stormy with heavy precipitation. Strong and gusty WSW winds.
Monday
Stormy with periods of heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty W winds increasing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Stormy with heavy precipitation. Strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Stormy with periods of heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Night
Stormy with heavy precipitation. Strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Stormy with heavy rain and snow. Very strong and gusty W winds increasing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Stormy with heavy precipitation. Very strong and gusty W winds decreasing slightly overnight.
Monday
Stormy with periods of moderate to heavy precipitation. Strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Night
Stormy with periods of moderate to heavy rain and snow. Strong and gusty W winds decreasing slightly overnight.
Monday
Stormy with periods of moderate to heavy precipitation especially west of Hwy 97. Very strong and gusty W winds increasing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Stormy west of Hwy 97, with showers further east. Very strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Stormy with periods of moderate to occasionally heavy precipitation especially. Very strong and gusty W winds increasing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Snow showers could be heavy at times, especially near the crest. Very strong and gusty W winds.
Monday
Stormy with periods of heavy precipitation. Extreme W winds with stronger gusts.
Monday
Night
Stormy with periods of moderate to heavy snow. Very strong to extreme W winds with stronger gusts.
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).