The Pacific Northwest is in a fairly benign weather pattern. A disturbance slides down the back side of the trough over most of the western US. That disturbance brings some shower activity to the Pacific Northwest coastline but mostly misses our mountains. However, it may enhance very light showers over the higher terrain in the southwest Washington Cascades and Mt Hood areas through the morning areas. With the trough remaining over the area once the disturbance drops south, expect a slight increase in clouds and nuisance rain/snow showers, but most moisture remains west of the Cascade Crest. Expect mostly cloudy skies and very light generally W winds.
NW flow aloft develops as the trough slides E by Thursday morning. Moderate ridgeline winds may develop for exposed areas along the E slopes of the Cascades and Mt Hood. The increased winds bank clouds against the W slopes along with an increased chance of light snowfall.
Snow levels remain fairly steady around 2000-3000 with freezing levels along the east slopes of the Cascades rising up to around 3000-3500 ft during the daytime.
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 an increased chance of an isolated light rain or snow shower in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of light rain or snow showers.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with an increased chance of an isolated light rain or snow shower in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of light rain or snow showers.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with an increased chance of an isolated light rain or snow shower in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of light rain or snow showers.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with isolated light rain or snow showers.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of light rain or snow showers.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with an increased chance of an isolated light rain or snow shower in the afternoon. Very light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of light rain or snow showers. Light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with an increased chance of an isolated light rain or snow shower in the afternoon. Very light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of light rain or snow showers. Light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Wednesday
Partly cloudy to mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy near the Cascade Crest with mostly clear skies further east.
Wednesday
Partly cloudy to mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy near the Cascade Crest with mostly clear skies further east.
Wednesday
Partly cloudy to mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy near the Cascade Crest with mostly clear skies further east.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with very light rain or snow showers at times.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain or snow showers.
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).