Our cool and snowy pattern continues on Wednesday with scattered snow showers for the north/central Washington Cascades and Olympics and more persistent snow showers south of I-90 to Mt Hood today. The southern WA Cascades and Mt Hood area will also see the strongest westerly ridgeline winds today. We'll see sunbreaks along the east slopes of the Cascades, and partly sunny skies for the northwest Cascades and Olympics in the afternoon.
A new disturbance will pass from central B.C. and down the backside of the cold upper trough and into our region late Wednesday night and Thursday. This will quickly increase snow along the west slopes of the Cascades and Passes, Olympics and Mt Hood during the day on Thursday. With colder air in place, look for this "storm" to be a nice snow producer with low density snowfall. WNW ridgeline winds will also ramp up into the strong range. Modified arctic air will start to push out of the Fraser River Valley on Thursday, will very cold temperatures pushing into the north Cascades.
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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Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with isolated light snow showers in the morning, becoming partly sunny in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers and moderate ridgeline winds after midnight.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the morning, becoming isolated snow showers and partly sunny in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers after midnight.
Wednesday
Cloudy with scattered light snow showers.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers and moderate ridgeline winds after midnight.
Wednesday
Light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the morning, heaviest Paradise area. Moderate to occasionally strong ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers and moderate ridgeline winds after midnight.
Wednesday
Cloudy with scattered light snow showers. A few sunbreaks possible in the afternoon. Light W ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers after midnight. Light to moderate Pass level and ridgeline W winds increasing late.
Wednesday
Cloudy with scattered light snow showers. Light to moderate W ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers after midnight. Moderate Pass level and ridgeline W winds increasing late.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the morning, becoming isolated snow showers and partly sunny in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers and moderate ridgeline winds after midnight.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the morning, becoming isolated snow showers and partly sunny in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers and moderate ridgeline winds after midnight.
Wednesday
Cloudy with light snow showers in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with increasing light snow showers and moderate ridgeline winds after midnight.
Wednesday
Moderate snow showers in the morning, becoming lighter in the afternoon. A few sunbreaks E side of the mountain. Strong ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with Light to occasionally moderate snow showers. Strong 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).