We should be in for a nice weekend across the mountains. With most weather systems passing well to our south into California and to our north into Canada, we're left stuck in the middle with very little significant weather. That doesn't mean you won't see a few flurries or the skies will turn fully blue.
On Saturday, you could see a few snowflakes just about anywhere, but most of the showers will focus on the west slopes of the Cascades between Snoqualmie and Stevens Passes and along the East Slopes near Athanum Meadows. Mostly cloudy skies with patchy low clouds/fog in the morning should turn to more broken to scattered skies in the afternoon. Most of the sunshine will be near Mt Hood and in the eastern forecast zones. However, passing bands of high clouds should keep the skies from turning full "bluebird."
Subtle shifts in the overall flow pattern on Sunday will bring our weather from the SE. For the most part, this will entail clouds pushing into the Cascades and keeping areas near and east of the Crest overcast. It could also result in a few upslope snow showers, mainly near and north of Lake Chelan. Further west, you could see more sunshine. The other impact of this flow pattern will be an increase in easterly winds along the Cascade crest and through the Passes. This doesn't look like a major east wind event, but Sunday could be quite blustery in some locations.
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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Saturday
Partly to mostly cloudy. A few isolated showers possible in the SW Olympics.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy and dry.
Saturday
Partly to mostly cloudy with sun breaks likely. A few flurries possible.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy with low clouds and valley fog.
Saturday
Partly to mostly cloudy with a few sun breaks. Very isolated showers possible.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy with low clouds and valley fog forming.
Saturday
Partly to mostly cloudy with sun breaks likely. Low clouds fog in the morning. A few flurries possible.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy with low clouds and fog forming.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with low clouds/fog in the morning. Sun breaks possible. Very isolated showers.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy with low clouds/fog. E flow developing overnight.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with low clouds/fog. A few sun breaks possible in the afternoon. Very isolated showers possible.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy with low clouds and fog. A few flurries possible. E flow developing overnight.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with patchy valley fog. Sun breaks likely.
Saturday
Night
Clouds increasing from the E. Light snow showers possible.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with patchy valley fog. Sun breaks likely.
Saturday
Night
Cloudy with areas of low clouds/valley fog. A few flurries possible particularly north of Hwy 2.
Saturday
Partly to mostly cloudy with areas of low clouds/fog. A few flurries possible.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy with areas of low clouds/fog.
Saturday
Partly to mostly cloudy with periods of sunshine, A few flurries possible.
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).