A sharp cold front blew through the area last delivering far more wind than snow to the region. Extreme W winds at upper elevations registered multiple hours of 100mph gusts at Magic Mile on Mt Hood and Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier. Strong overnight W winds in the 5000-6000' are starting to relax this morning. Post-frontal showers behind the front will be pretty inconsequential today outside a lingering convergence zone. Even the convergence zone will have limited impact as it hews to the western mountains of Skagit and Snohomish counties before dissipating by mid-day. Temperatures have dropped 20-25F(!) from yesterday afternoon's high temperatures and snow/freezing levels will settle in the 3000-4500' range today with the coolest temperatures over the Olympic peninsula. There should be a mix of sun and low clouds along the west slopes of the Cascades today, with a fair bit of mid and high cloud along the stalled frontal boundary along the east slopes of the Cascades and Mt Hood.
The upper low associated with our frontal system will stay offshore and drop south overnight. We should see fair weather overnight with the chance of a stray shower. A shortwave trough will rotate northward from the low on Thursday, bringing widespread showers first to the Mt Hood area, and spreading northward along east slope of the Cascades during the day. The eastern slopes of the Cascades should see a few inches of snow above 3500' with less precipitation west of the Cascade crest.
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 scattered light snow showers.
Wednesday
Night
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light to occasionally moderate snow showers.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers, occasionally moderate near a convergence zone this morning.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers. Moderate W ridgeline and Pass level winds easing in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Light NW ridgeline and W Pass level winds.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers. Moderate W ridgeline and Pass level winds easing in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Light NW ridgeline and W Pass level winds.
Wednesday
Cloudy this morning, then partly to mostly cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine. Chance of light rain or snow showers this morning. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Cloudy this morning, then partly to mostly cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine. Chance of light rain or snow showers this morning. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Cloudy this morning, then partly to mostly cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine. Chance of light rain or snow showers this morning. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Wednesday
Cloudy this morning, then partly to mostly cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine. Chance of light rain or snow showers this morning. Strong ridgeline winds, extreme in the alpine, becoming moderate this afternoon.
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).