Stratus covers much of the Cascades this morning while our region is under cool NW flow aloft. You may see a few flurries today in the central and northern Cascades but otherwise dry conditions are expected. Temperatures are quite chilly, mountain weather stations are generally in the teens to even single digits across the region. The stratus will start to break up this afternoon but low-level moisture should be capped from a full-on breakout. Mostly cloudy phrasing transitions to partly sunny from north to south across the Cascades and then to mostly sunny down at Mt Hood. The Mt Hood area has a few passing high clouds this morning that should peter out this afternoon.
After a quiet Tuesday night, a weak upper-level disturbance should drop SE towards our region in NW flow aloft. There is still some inconsistency with forecast guidance but hedge your bets on increasing clouds over Washington state during the day on Wednesday with light snow developing for the Olympics, and central and north Cascades in the afternoon.
Since the short term is relatively benign we'll look ahead a bit. Fraser outflow that has been dripping colder air from the interior of Canada into northern Washington will start to increase Wed night. A low pressure system approaching the Oregon coast will also increase cross Cascade gradients and offshore easterly flow. This should produce locally windy conditions across much of the Cascades. As a warm frontal feature impacts Mt Hood Wednesday night, there is still a great deal of uncertainty with how much moisture lifts north into Washington during the day. Either way, prepare for cold weather with 5000' temperatures in the single digits to even below zero before any wind chill is factored in.
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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Tuesday
Partly to mostly sunny.
Tuesday
Night
Partly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of light snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of light snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy in the morning becoming partly sunny in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of light snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then partly to mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of light snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of light snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then partly to mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of light snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning then partly sunny in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Partly to mostly cloudy.
Tuesday
Periods of high clouds this morning. Mostly sunny in the afternoon. Moderate to occasionally strong 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).