Generally quiet weather, with a mix of sun and clouds, will help us close out the weekend. Most locations should see at least some sunshine during the day. Clouds will start to increase along the east slopes of the range and in areas further south around lunchtime. You'll also notice a marked increase in E-SE winds. It could get quite breezy near Mt Hood, the Cascade Crest, and the mountain passes. The only real precipitation on Sunday might be a few very light upslope snow showers in the Methow region.
Overnight a low pressure starts to lift northward from California and rotate moisture into our area from the SE. Precipitation will slowly move from south to north on both sides of the range. With this flow pattern, snowfall favors the Mt Hood, East South, and East Central zones. E to SE winds peak Sunday night with the onset of precipitation before slowly decreasing into Monday.
The low pressure morphs into a narrow trough, which causes very light showers to linger in the Cascades. Overall this weak system is contradictory to our normal patterns, with the bulk of the energy focused east of the Crest. Unfortunately, with a relatively poor moisture tap, we're only talking about a few inches of snow.
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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Sunday
Mostly sunny with a few passing high clouds.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear becoming mostly cloudy.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy in the morning, becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Clouds increasing overnight and becoming mostly cloudy. A few flurries possible in the eastern part of the zone.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy in the morning, becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Increasing clouds overnight. Light to moderate ESE winds. A few flurries possible.
Sunday
Mostly sunny with clouds increasing in the afternoon. ESE winds increasing becoming light to moderate.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with showers starting around midnight. Moderate ESE winds, potentially stronger near the crest.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy in the morning becoming scattered and partly sunny. Light E flow.
Sunday
Night
Clouds increasing overnight with a few light snow showers. Moderate ESE winds.
Sunday
Becoming mostly sunny in the morning with clouds increasing later in the day. Light ESE winds increasing in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Clouds increasing overnight with a few light snow showers. Moderate ESE winds.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with a few sun breaks possible. Very light upslope snow showers particularly in the eastern portion of the zone.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with a few light snow showers. SE winds becoming light to moderate.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with a few sun breaks possible. Increase mid/low clouds in the afternoon. SE winds becoming light to moderate.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with snow showers developing heavier near and south of the Wenatchee Mts. Moderate ESE winds becoming strong and gusty.
Sunday
Partly to mostly sunny in the morning with increasing clouds in the afternoon. SE winds becoming light to moderate.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with light snow showers developing. Moderate ESE winds becoming strong and gusty.
Sunday
Mostly sunny in the morning with increasing high clouds in the afternoon. SE winds increasing significantly and becoming moderate to strong and gusty.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with generally light snow showers. Strong and gusty SE winds decreasing slightly.
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).