We're on the tail end of a strong and wet frontal system that blew through the area last night. Post-frontal showers in westerly flow will continue this morning, with the heaviest precipitation in the morning hours directed along the west slopes of the Cascades into the south/central portions including an area of convergence around Skagit and Snohomish counties. Snow levels are around 3500-4000' in the north and 5000-5500' in the south. Showers will become more scattered this afternoon along the west slopes of the Cascades with sunbreaks. Drier conditions and sunnier skies will be found along the east slopes of the Cascades. Generally strong westerly ridgeline winds will slowly come down during the day and ease further overnight.
An upper level ridge will build over the area tonight and Wednesday. We'll see some cooling for the Olymipcs and Cascades overnight with milder overnight temperatures for Mt Hood. Freezing levels will rise to near 5500' Wednesday afternoon near the Canadian border to 8000' near Mt Hood. With a frontal system upstream, look for passing high clouds both tonight and Wednesday.
Weather Forecast
Olympics
West North
West Central
West South
Stevens Pass
Snoqualmie Pass
East North
East Central
East South
Mt. Hood
Use dropdown to select your zone
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming partly to mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds.
Tuesday
Cloudy with scattered light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy with sunbreaks in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds.
Tuesday
Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light to moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy with sunbreaks in the afternoon. Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds.
Tuesday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy with sunbreaks in the afternoon. Strong ridgeline winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy with sunbreaks in the afternoon. Moderate to strong ridgeline and Pass level W winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds. Moderate ridgeline and Pass level W winds easing after midnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy with sunbreaks in the afternoon. Moderate to strong ridgeline and Pass level W winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds. Moderate ridgeline and Pass level W winds easing after midnight.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers near the Cascade crest in the morning, becoming partly to mostly sunny in the afternoon. Strong ridgeline winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers near the Cascade crest in the morning, becoming partly to mostly sunny in the afternoon. Strong ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds. Moderate ridgeline winds easing after midnight.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers near the Cascade crest in the morning, becoming partly to mostly sunny in the afternoon. Strong ridgeline winds becoming moderate in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds. Moderate ridgeline winds easing after midnight.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light to occasionally moderate rain and snow showers in the morning, becoming partly sunny in the afternoon. Strong ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly clear with periods of high clouds. 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).