Mountain Weather Forecast

Weather Synopsis

We're in for a cold snow showery weekend with a cold upper level trough as the central weather figure. A front passed through early Friday morning and now convective afternoon showers are beginning to increase as daytime heating and an unstable atmosphere collide. Showers will be heaviest for the western Cascades near a Puget Sound Convergence Zone forming near Snohomish/Skagit county. Some showers will contain graupel or soft hail. The Convergence Zone will shift south this evening and overnight, helping to focus those persistent showers in the central Cascades between I-90 and Hwy 2. Strong westerly winds will continue to blow overnight, helping to move several inches of new snow near and west of the Cascade crest around. 

Snow showers should be relatively lighter in the morning. You'll find 5000' temperatures in the low 20s to upper teens tomorrow, so grab that extra layer for "spring" recreation. An upper level shortwave sliding down the backside of the trough will invigorate snow showers over the mountains in the afternoon, and will likely kick off another area of Convergence near the Snoqualmie Pass area. While you likely see sunbreaks on Saturday, the day will feature mostly cloudy skies and another round of gusty west winds. All areas near and west of the Cascade crest, the Olympics and Mt Hood should see several inches of snow tonight through Saturday, with a few winners in the central/northwest Cascades closer to a foot of snow. 

A weak low pressure system passing inland Saturday night will bring light to moderate snow for the Mt Hood area into Sunday morning. The south Washington Cascades and southern half of the Olympics may also benefit from this weather feature depending on the final track. 

Sunday's forecast is still very much up in the air. Some forecast models track a low pressure system into the OR/WA border, spreading light snow but also moderating temps/snow levels into much of the region.  Other forecast models have that same low digging well to our south into southern Oregon, perhaps glancing Mt Hood but largely leaving us with scattered showers that increase in the afternoon and continued cold conditions.