It's another frigid morning across the forecast zones. Several weather stations show temperatures in the single digits with a couple of sites reporting near 0F! Make sure to bundle up if you head to the mountains. Even with light to moderate winds, you will encounter extremely cold wind chill values. Don't expect temperatures to warm too much during the day as very cold air remains firmly in place across the Pacific Northwest.
A weak "warm" front will lift clouds and light snow showers up from Oregon into the southern half of the region during the day for both sides of the Cascades. Most of the activity appears to stay south of I90, with a few stray showers and flurries venturing further north. With such cold temperatures, you could encounter snow even at very low elevations. The main story with this first feature remains the easterly winds. Several weather stations already show off-shore flow increasing this morning. This trend should continue today and tonight. Wind prone locations along the Cascade Crest and Passes could see strong and gusty winds. With the bulk of the activity focused further south, areas near the Canadian border should experience more sunshine and calmer weather.
Clouds, strong winds, and light showers should linger for the trailheads in the southern and eastern zones through Friday. A weak high-pressure ridge wants to build into the region and provide a break in the action, but any lull looks short-lived. A second weather system is poised to impact the Northwest Friday evening bring additional snow to the lowlands and mountains.
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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Thursday
Cold. Cloudy with isolated light snow showers.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with isolated light snow showers.
Thursday
Cold. Mostly sunny. Winds increasing in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Mostly clear.
Thursday
Cold. Partly to mostly cloudy with flurries possible.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Mostly cloudy with flurries possible.
Thursday
Cold. Cloudy with scattered snow showers. Moderate to strong ridgetop winds.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with scattered snow showers. Moderate to strong ridgetop winds.
Thursday
Cold. Cloudy with isolated very light snow showers. E winds increasing.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with isolated light snow showers. Moderate to strong E winds.
Thursday
Cold. Cloudy with isolated snow showers. Moderate to strong E winds.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with isolated snow showers. Strong E winds.
Thursday
Cold. Mostly sunny. E winds increasing.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Mostly clear.
Thursday
Cold. Mostly cloudy with isolated snow showers in the southern half of the zone.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with isolated snow showers in the southern half of the zone.
Thursday
Cold. Cloudy with isolated light snow showers in the afternoon.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with isolated light snow showers.
Thursday
Cloudy with scattered snow showers. Moderate to strong winds.
Thursday
Night
Cold. Cloudy with snow showers. Moderate to strong 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).