High pressure will shift over the region today, leading to a mostly sunny and spring-like day. Offshore flow will lead to some breezy E-SE ridgeline and Pass level winds in areas, with light to moderate winds expected near and south of Hwy 2. A weak upper level trough well offshore will also send a few high clouds our way this afternoon and cause periods of filtered sunshine, mainly for the Olympics and northwest Cascades in the afternoon. Light upslope flow along the east slopes of the Cascades should also allow patchy cumulus clouds to build-up over the mountains in the afternoon and drift to the NW. Freezing levels will be in the 4000-5000' range today.
We'll have a quiet Thursday night with some passing high clouds over Washington State from the same upper level feature and then mostly clear skies. On Friday, we can expect lighter winds and sunny skies at least through mid-day. Another weak system well offshore will likely spread a bit more high cloud inland during the late afternoon hours. Freezing levels will bump up a notch and into the 5000-6000' range on Friday.
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
Mostly sunny in the morning with a few high clouds, becoming partly to mostly cloudy with filtered sunshine in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Mostly to partly clear with periods of high clouds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny. Periods of filtered sunshine and high clouds in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Mostly to partly clear with periods of high clouds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny with passing high clouds. Light to moderate SE ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Mostly to partly clear with periods of high clouds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny with passing high clouds. Moderate SE ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Mostly clear.
Thursday
Mostly sunny with passing high clouds. Light to moderate E-SE ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Thursday
Night
Mostly to partly clear with periods of high clouds. Light to moderate E-SE ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny with passing high clouds. Moderate E-SE ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Thursday
Night
Mostly to partly clear with periods of high clouds. Light to moderate E-SE ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny in the morning with a few high clouds, becoming partly to mostly sunny with periods of filtered sunshine and a few low clouds building near ridgelines in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Mostly to partly clear with periods of high clouds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny with occasional high clouds. A few low clouds building near ridgelines in the afternoon. Moderate SE ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Mostly clear. Light to moderate SE ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Mostly sunny with occasional high clouds. A few low clouds building near ridgelines in the afternoon. Light to moderate SE ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Mostly clear. Light to moderate SE ridgeline winds.
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).