We've got another beautiful spring day on tap in the mountains! If you're heading out to hunt easter eggs in the snow, expect plenty of sunshine, high thin clouds, very warm temperatures, and generally light winds. A high pressure ridge is parked squarely over the Pacific Northwest and will maintain our dry weather through the early part of the week.
Temperatures are on the warm side this morning, with many weather stations hovering in the mid to low 40s. Weak inversions in the mountain valleys and passes resulted in slightly lower (but still above freezing) temperatures for some locations. As the sun comes up, expect things to heat up quickly! Five thousand foot temperatures should easily climb into the 50s across the entire region, with a few sites flirting with 60 F. High clouds will be slightly thicker and more prevalent than they were on Saturday, but shouldn't do much to hinder the impact of the sun. Generally, light offshore (east ) winds will help bring the warmest temperatures of the day to places farther west on the Cascade crest, like Mt Saint Helens, Mt Rainier, and Mt Baker. Expect slightly stronger SE winds through Snoqualmie Pass and along the spine of the Cascades between the West and East South zones.
Sunday night looks like a "rinse and repeat," with mild temperatures in the 40s and passing bands of high thin clouds. A storm system well to our north in British Columbia will cause the high pressure ridge to bend, but not break on Monday. While temperatures will initially remain on the warm side, increasing clouds and stronger winds should make it feel like a very different day than this sunny spring weekend. Eventually, this storm will usher much cooler air into the region and help temperatures dip back below freezing Monday night.
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
Mostly sunny with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Mostly sunny with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Mostly sunny with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Mostly sunny with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear with high thin clouds. Warm.
Sunday
Mostly sunny with high thin clouds. Warm. Light E flow at pass level.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear with high thin clouds. Warm. Light E flow at pass level, weakening in the early morning.
Sunday
Mostly sunny with high thin clouds. Warm. Light E flow at pass level. With light to moderate SE ridgeline winds.
Sunday
Night
Mostly clear with high thin clouds. Warm. Light E flow at pass level, weakening in the early morning hours.
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).