We're off to a chilly start to the weekend with mountain temperatures in the teens and even a few single digits this morning. The Pacific Northwest is sandwiched between two large scale weather features, the first a strong ridge of high pressure offshore and the second, a digging upper level trough which will eventually become a closed low over California. What we won't see this weekend is precipitation - we'll continue the meteorological version of dry January well into next week. There will be plenty of sunshine in this pattern.
A slow warming trend will begin over the weekend as the upper level ridge edges closer and noses into British Columbia. Temperatures and freezing levels will slowly warm today, but by Sunday, we'll see some strange freezing level forecasts with milder air first showing over the Olympics and north Cascades and cooler freezing levels further south. The Passes and terrain near the Cascade crest will be a battleground, with above freezing temperatures trying to poke in at upper elevations.
The other main story with be the winds between the two aforementioned weather features. Periods of moderate E-NE ridgeline winds will continue through Sunday morning before starting to ease. The exception will be the Mt Hood area where E-NE winds will rip. Combine that with cold temperatures and the wind chill will be no joke despite the sunshine, so layer up appropriately.
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. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Light ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate ridgeline winds becoming light to moderate after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate ridgeline winds becoming light to moderate after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Light to moderate ENE ridgeline winds, lighter at Pass level.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate E ridgeline winds becoming lighter after midnight. Light E winds at Pass level.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Light to moderate ENE ridgeline winds, lighter at Pass level.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate E ridgeline winds becoming lighter after midnight. Light E winds at Pass level.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Moderate to occasionally strong ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Mostly clear. Moderate ridgeline winds becoming light to moderate after midnight.
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).