Saturday features a much-needed break in the wet weather as an unusually warm December high-pressure system begins to shift eastward. With plenty of moisture in the Puget Sound lowlands, some patchy low cloud lingers and might squeeze out some drizzle early in the day in the Mt Baker area. Mountain temperatures are generally in the 30s and 40s early Saturday. Temperatures should rise into the 40s and 50s at 5000 ft with mostly sunny skies and patchy low cloud, mostly in the Mt Baker area, early in the day. The exception is the Methow Valley, where temperatures hover just below freezing at all elevations early Saturday, and temperatures should rise into the upper 30s once low-level temperature inversions mix out late morning.
Saturday evening, high clouds spread into the region with a narrow band of briefly moderate rainfall moving into the region overnight. It should reach about as far SE as Snoqualmie Pass by 4 AM Sunday before mostly fizzling out during the morning hours. A convergence could develop over the northern Cascades or the Mountain Loop as the day progresses. Snow levels hover around 6000-7000 ft, with limited cooling behind the front as an atmospheric river approaches our offshore waters.
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
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm with patchy low cloud below 4500 ft in the morning and high clouds thickening in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and highest elevation snow. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm with patchy low cloud and drizzle below 5000 ft in the morning. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening, with moderate rain and high-elevation snow arriving overnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm with patchy low cloud below 4500 ft in the morning.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening, with rain and highest-elevation snow arriving in the early morning hours.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm with patchy low cloud and drizzle below 5000 ft in the morning.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening, with rain and highest-elevation snow arriving around 4 AM.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm. Light ridgeline and E or variable wind at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening, with rain and highest-elevation snow arriving in the early morning hours. Increasing light to moderate ridgeline and light E wind at the Pass.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm. Patchy low clouds in the morning. Light ridgeline and E or variable wind at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening, with rain and highest-elevation snow arriving in the early morning hours. Increasing light to moderate ridgeline and light E wind at the Pass.
Saturday
Mostly sunny with weak inversions mixing out by late morning.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening with light rain and snow arriving in the early morning hours.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably mild. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thicken in the evening with light rain and snow arriving in the early morning hours.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably mild. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thickening overnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Mostly sunny and unseasonably mild. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
High clouds lower and thickening overnight. 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).