Following a cool start this morning, get ready for a sunny and pleasant day in the mountains all throughout the region. Freezing levels will rebound a bit under the late January sun along with generally light WNW ridgeline winds. The central and south Washington Cascades may occasionally see ridgeline wind speeds push into the moderate category today.
A frontal system dropping toward our region in NW flow aloft will arrive late tonight and Sunday. Clouds will increase tonight with light snow developing first for the Olympics and northwest and central-west Cascades before spreading south and east to all areas by Sunday morning. The front will weaken and begin to washout as it crosses the Olympic peninsula late Sunday morning. A trailing upper-level trough and surface low will become quasi-stationary Sunday afternoon and continue to rotate light but continuous showers into the region. With the air mass on the cooler side with low snow levels, even the light water amounts should result in several inches of light snow for the Olympics, west slopes of the Cascades, and Mt. Hood with slightly lower totals along the east slopes of the Cascades through Sunday afternoon.
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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Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Becoming cloudy in the evening with light snow developing after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Becoming cloudy in the evening with light snow developing after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Becoming cloudy in the evening with light snow developing after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Becoming cloudy later in the evening. Chance of light snow late.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Becoming cloudy in the evening with light snow developing late.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Becoming cloudy in the evening with light snow developing late.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Partly cloudy in the evening, then cloudy after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Partly cloudy in the evening, then cloudy after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Partly cloudy in the evening, then cloudy after midnight.
Saturday
Mostly sunny.
Saturday
Night
Partly cloudy in the evening, then cloudy 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).