Quiet weather will reign today with a few leftover showers, mainly around the Olympics, and otherwise dry conditions. High clouds from a storm complex to our south will spin up over the area. The north Cascades and Olympics will likely see sunbreaks at the edge of the continuous high/mid cloud cover.
Light snow will develop along east slopes of the Cascades to near the Cascade crest as a weak warm front lifts north. An upslope component will help squeeze out a few inches, particularly along the eastern slopes of the Cascades. The bigger story will be the increasing winds overnight, easterly at Pass level and E-SE at ridgeline.
There's still considerable uncertainty about the track of the low on Wednesday. This forecast reflects one with a surface low quickly tracking north along the WA/OR coast Tuesday night and Wednesday. This would bring slightly heavier precipitation to the Olympics and north Cascades as the front stalls out, and milder air pumping in for all areas. Most of the precipitation should fall as snow initially, but may transition to light rain/drizzle across mid-elevations Wednesday. The most significant weather impact will be the potential for strong to extreme winds. As the low lifts north, it should bring strong to extreme S-SE winds into the area, especially near and west of the Cascade crest down to Mt Hood. If the low tracks across the Cascades, the wind forecast will be much less impactful, and the warming trend will be less of a factor. Stay tuned...
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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Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of light rain or snow. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers, mainly in the morning. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of light rain or snow. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers, mainly in the morning. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with a chance of light rain or snow. Light to moderate ridgeline winds increasing overnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a few sunbreaks. Chance of light rain and snow showers, mainly in the morning. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow developing. Light to moderate ridgeline winds becoming strong overnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a few sunbreaks. Chance of light rain and snow showers, mainly in the morning. Light to moderate E Pass level winds and southerly ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light rain and snow developing. Moderate E Pass level winds, and SE ridgeline winds increasing overnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a few sunbreaks. Chance of light rain and snow showers, mainly in the morning. Light to moderate E Pass level winds and southerly ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light rain and snow developing. Moderate E Pass level winds, and SE ridgeline winds increasing overnight.
Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow developing. Light to moderate ridgeline winds increasing overnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow developing. Light to moderate ridgeline winds increasing overnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light to moderate rain and snow. Light to moderate ridgeline winds increasing overnight.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers, mainly in the morning. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow. Light to moderate ridgeline winds becoming strong overnight.
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).