It's a bit of rinse and repeat for the weather today, though with a lower chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Perhaps more importantly, with less instability in the atmosphere, any thunderstorms that do develop should be much less severe than Wednesday evening's storms.The stacked low offshore has drifted a bit closer and it's spinning some more light and scattered showers into the the mountains during the day today. There's a chance for some occasional sun breaks before cloud cover rebounds in the afternoon. If the sun comes out for longer and heats things up a bit more, that should drive a bit more convective activity (locally stronger showers and chances for t-storms) this afternoon. Things have cooled substantially from the summer-like temperatures we have been experiencing, with snow levels falling into the 4500-5000ft range and holding steady through the day. Showery activity picks up for all zones on both sides of the crest this evening, with the passes a bit less favored. A short-wave on Friday focuses things a bit more as the upper-low transitions to a trough with continued showers and cooling. Snow levels drop overnight into the 4000-4500ft range and hang there on Friday. Things look to dryout some on Saturday in advance of the next system arriving late weekend.
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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Thursday
Mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Moderate rain and snow showers, could be heavier at times. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered light to moderate rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Moderate rain and snow showers, could be heavier at times. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered light to moderate rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Moderate rain and snow showers, could be heavier at times. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered light to moderate rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Moderate rain and snow showers, could be heavier at times. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Scattered rain and snow showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds and light to moderate pass winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Scattered rain and snow showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds and light to moderate pass winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Scattered rain and snow showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds and light to moderate pass winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Scattered rain and snow showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Scattered rain and snow showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the early evening. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Partly to mostly cloudy with rain and snow showers. Moderate to strong ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Night
Moderate to heavy rain and snow showers, with 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).