After a bit of a chilly start Friday morning, it looks like a beautiful day across the mountains! A high-pressure ridge will start to travel over the Pacific Northwest today. This should provide plenty of sunshine, generally light winds, and relatively mild temperatures. You may see a few clouds building near the crest in the afternoon and we can't rule out a stray, shower, but in general, conditions should be dry. The high-pressure shifts inland tonight ahead of an approaching storm. Expect clouds and winds to increase, but precipitation should hold off until Saturday, except for possibly in the western Olympic Mountains.
A deep Pacific trough will approach the region Saturday and bring several days of active and wet weather. The first of these storms, a weakening frontal system, appears to stall just offshore. This should keep the precipitation totals rather modest during the day. Look for showers to develop in the Olympics and North Cascades early in the morning. Eventually, precipitation should spread across the West Slopes of the Cascades around lunchtime. With milder air in place, many lower elevation trailheads and Passes could start this storm as rain or very wet snow. It will take a bit longer for the cold air to finally push into the mountains and bring snow levels back down.
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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Friday
Partly to mostly sunny with increasing clouds in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Increasing clouds and a few light showers in the western Olympic Mts. Light to moderate SSW winds.
Friday
Partly to mostly sunny, with cumulus clouds in the afternoon.
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).