A flattening ridge of high pressure brings one final day of dry and mild weather. Clear skies enabled a cool start to the day with freezing levels dropping down to 3000-4000 ft overnight. But expect freezing levels do rise to 5000-7500 ft by the afternoon. The mildest temperatures will be in the southern Cascades and east of the Cascade Crest. Westerly winds start the day light, but increase into the moderate range for areas east of the Cascade Crest by the afternoon as clouds spread in from the WNW.
Friday evening, clouds increase through the evening hours with very light rain and snow developing overnight for areas from Snoqualmie Pass northward as a low slides down the British Columbia coastline.
On Saturday as a subtle warm front appraches, expect light rain and snow for the Washington Cascades near and west of the Cascade Crest, mainly from Mt Rainier Northward. Mt Baker could pick up 2-4" of snow with Stevens and Snoqualmie expecting 1-2" above 3000-3500 ft.
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
Mostly sunny with high clouds lowering and thickening in the afternoon. Mild.
Friday
Night
Cloudy.
Friday
Mostly sunny in the morning with clouds increasing in the afternoon. Mild.
Friday
Night
Cloudy to start, then increasing light rain and snow.
Friday
Mostly sunny in the morning with clouds increasing late in the day. Mild.
Friday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then very light rain and snow develop overnight.
Friday
Mostly sunny with a few high clouds. Warm.
Friday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken.
Friday
Mostly sunny and mild with clouds increasing late in the day. Increasing light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Friday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then very light rain and snow develop overnight. Increasing light to moderate ridgeline and light W wind at the Pass.
Friday
Mostly sunny and mild with clouds increasing late in the day. Increasing light ridgeline and W wind at the Pass.
Friday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then very light rain and snow develop overnight. Light to moderate ridgeline and light W wind at the Pass.
Friday
Mostly sunny with clouds increasing late in the day.
Friday
Night
Increasing clouds.
Friday
Mostly sunny. Warm.
Friday
Night
Increasing clouds.
Friday
Mostly sunny. Warm.
Friday
Night
Increasing clouds.
Friday
Mostly sunny with a few high clouds. Warm.
Friday
Night
Increasing clouds. Increasing light to moderate 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).