A weak front will slowly sag south today. Light precipitation and mild snow levels this morning will give way to a partial clearing and a slow cooling trend this afternoon. Low-level easterly flow is allowing for some light freezing rain localized to the Cascade Passes and potentially some lower slopes and valleys along the east slopes of the Cascades. Weak convergence should allow clouds to linger longest in the central Cascades including the Mtn Loop and Stevens and Snoqualmie Passes this afternoon. The front and associated cloud cover will hang around most of the day near Mt. Hood.
High pressure will build offshore overnight for a dry and mostly clear night. The ridge will quickly flatten on Saturday as a weather system approaches. Increasing high clouds across the region will transition the sky cover from filtered sunshine to a high overcast as the day wears on.
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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Friday
Mostly sunny.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Mostly cloudy in the morning becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon. Chance of showers in the morning.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Cloudy in the morning becoming partly sunny in the afternoon. Chance of showers in the morning.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Cloudy in the morning with light rain and snow. Becoming partly to mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Cloudy in the morning with light freezing rain or rain. Becoming mostly cloudy sunny in the afternoon. Light east winds at Pass level becoming west late morning.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear. Light and variable winds at Pass level.
Friday
Cloudy in the morning with light freezing rain or rain. Becoming mostly cloudy sunny in the afternoon. Light east winds at Pass level becoming west late morning.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear. Light and variable winds at Pass level.
Friday
Mostly cloudy in the morning with periods of light rain and snow. Becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Mostly cloudy in the morning with periods of light rain and snow. Becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Mostly cloudy in the morning with periods of light rain and snow. Becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear.
Friday
Cloudy in the morning with light rain and snow. Becoming mostly cloudy to partly sunny in the afternoon.
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).