An upper level disturbance carving down the backside of a broad trough deposited a welcome 2-8" of snow last night across the Cascades, with the most observed at the Paradise, Mt Rainier, Mt Loop Hwy, and Timberline, Mt Hood weather stations. Showers have already become more scattered this morning, but will stick around the longest for the Mt Hood area, especially the west side, and along the west slopes of the Cascades from the Mountain Loop area and south. An area of weak Puget Sound Convergence will occasionally produce some more moderate showers in the West Central zone through this morning. A burst of moderate to strong WNW winds accompanied the trough's passage early this morning. These winds will also ease today, with a delayed tapering for the Mt Hood area where they'll remain strong through the remainder of the morning. We'll see a fair amount of high clouds today, with more filtered sunshine for the north Cascades, along the east slopes of the Cascades and the Mt Hood area.
Upper level ridging building over the area will lead to drier conditions tonight, but then weaken as it shifts over eastern Washington on Saturday. Moderate to strong NW winds will tick upwards again tonight for higher ridgelines and in the alpine. The flattening upper level ridge should allow a fair amount of cloud cover to sneak into the area, especially for the Olympics and northwest Cascades on Saturday where a few drips of precipitation may occur. A low pressure system heading toward south-central B.C. coast will start to pump some milder air into the region with freezing levels rising into the 4000-6000' range Saturday afternoon.
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
Cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers.
Friday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers this morning, becoming partly to mostly cloudy in the afternoon with filtered sunshine.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers this morning, becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with filtered sunshine. Periods of moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy. Periods of moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers this morning, becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with isolated showers and filtered sunshine. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers this morning, becoming mostly to partly cloudy in the afternoon with filtered sunshine. Moderate W-NW ridgeline and Pass level winds easing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers this morning, becoming mostly to partly cloudy in the afternoon with filtered sunshine. Moderate W-NW ridgeline and Pass level winds easing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers this morning, becoming partly sunny in the afternoon with filtered sunshine.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy. Periods of moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers this morning, becoming partly sunny in the afternoon with filtered sunshine. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers this morning, becoming partly sunny in the afternoon with filtered sunshine. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers this morning, occasionally moderate west side. Becoming mostly to partly sunny in the afternoon, sunnier east side. Strong ridgeline winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy. Moderate to 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).