An upper level weather disturbance is lifting northeastward across the area this morning, bringing a burst of moderate rain and snow to most mountain locations over the next few hours along with moderate S-SW winds. Snow levels are generally between 4000-5000' along the west slopes, Olympics and Mt Hood, and 2000-3000' along the east slopes north of I-90. The Passes will see mostly snow this morning, but there may be a few patchy areas of freezing rain east of main Passes.
We'll see a switch to SW flow this afternoon with scattered showers and snow levels around 3500' on the west side and 4500-5000' along the east slopes. The Mt Baker area will see the heaviest and longest duration for moderate precipitation today.
The last shortwave assocaited with an upper trough of low pressure offshore will swing by tonight, bringing generally a lighter round of showers and slowly falling snow levels. There may be a brief period of convergence near the Mtn Loop and Stevens Pass to add a few additinonal inches of snow late tonight into Monday morning. Expect generally light and scattered showers along the west slopes of the Cascades on Monday with more sunshine east of the Cascade crest and down near Mt Hood.
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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Sunday
Light to occasionally moderate rain and snow becoming scattered light showers in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Moderate rain and snow becoming light to moderate showers in the afternoon. Moderate to strong ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Light to moderate rain and snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to moderate rain and snow becoming scattered light to occasionally moderate showers in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Light to moderate rain and snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to moderate rain and snow becoming scattered light to occasionally moderate showers in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Light rain and snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to moderate rain and snow becoming scattered light to occasionally moderate showers in the afternoon. Light E Pass level winds becoming W in the afternoon. Moderate S then SW ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Light to moderate rain and snow showers. Light to moderate W Pass level and ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to moderate rain and snow becoming scattered light to occasionally moderate showers in the afternoon. Light E Pass level winds becoming W in the afternoon. Moderate S then SW ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Light rain and snow showers. Light to moderate W Pass level and ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to occasionally moderate rain and snow becoming partly to mostly cloudy with isolated light showers near the Cascade crest in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to occasionally moderate rain and snow becoming partly to mostly cloudy with isolated light showers near the Cascade crest in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to occasionally moderate rain and snow becoming partly to mostly cloudy with isolated light showers near the Cascade crest in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Light to moderate rain and snow becoming scattered light to occasionally moderate showers in the afternoon. Strong ridgeline winds easing in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain and snow showers. 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).