We'll be treated to a beautiful and sunny day across the region today. After a chilly start this morning, high temperatures on Friday will be several degrees warmer than they were on Thursday. Areas like Paradise and Mt St Helens will see the biggest jump with freezing levels in the 4000-4500' range. The east slopes of the Cascades will remain on the colder side but with light winds, it will be a pleasant late February day nonetheless.
The upper level ridge that is producing the dry weather over the region is currently just offshore and will slide inland overnight. A Pacific frontal system will have a hard time completely breaking down the ridge over the weekend. Look for increasing high clouds Friday night along with increasing offshore flow/easterly winds through the Cascade Passes.
On Saturday for areas near and west of the Cascade crest, expect a high overcast with slowly lowering cloud ceilings during the day and further moderating mid-mountain temperatures. Areas east of the Cascade crest and down near Mt Hood can expect more filtered sunshine before high clouds fill in during the afternoon. Light rain and snow will begin for the Olympics mid-day/early afternoon and should begin in the northwest Cascades before 4 pm. These same areas will see the quickest ramp up in S-SW winds during the day tomorrow as well. Snow levels will quickly fall during the onset of precipitation. Unsettled weather will continue through the end of the weekend and into early next week.
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 with a few high clouds in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy with high clouds in the evening, becoming high overcast after midnight.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy with high clouds in the evening, becoming high overcast after midnight.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy with high clouds in the evening, becoming high overcast after midnight.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy with high clouds in the evening, becoming high overcast late.
Friday
Sunny. Light E winds at Pass level.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy with high clouds in the evening, becoming high overcast after midnight. Light to moderate east winds at Pass level.
Friday
Sunny. Light to moderate E winds at Pass level.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy with high clouds in the evening, becoming high overcast late. Moderate east winds at Pass level.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear in the evening, becoming partly cloudy with increasing high clouds after midnight.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear in the evening, becoming partly cloudy with increasing high clouds after midnight.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear in the evening, becoming partly cloudy with increasing high clouds after midnight.
Friday
Sunny.
Friday
Night
Mostly clear in the evening, becoming partly cloudy with increasing high clouds 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).