Low-level moisture and westerly winds continue to push scattered showers up into the west slopes of the Cascades this morning. This is causing locally stormy conditions. But don't worry. If you find yourself under one of these showers, it should be relatively short-lived. Gusty winds continue to impact locations primarily on and east of the crest and at Mt Hood. Both the showers and the gusty winds should slowly subside during the day.
While you may find some patches of blue sky in the mountain this morning, clouds will steadily increase and thicken ahead of our next weather system. A weak warm front will approach the area late in the day. This will cause a slight increase in snow levels this afternoon and overnight. Steady light precipitation should arrive in our region late this afternoon. Weather models seem to disagree about exactly how much rain and snow we can expect in the Olympics and Cascades. What does seem certain is the heaviest precipitation will occur late Sunday night into Monday morning as the front stalls overhead.
On Monday a building Pacific high-pressure ridge will start to shove its way into the region. The effects of this will be felt first in the Olympics and Mt Hood as much warmer air sends our snow levels on a steady climb upward Monday afternoon. While many locations may start the day with snow, they may end with rain. Temperatures will continue to climb as we head into the middle of the 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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Sunday
Increasing clouds with isolated snow showers in the morning, with light steady precipitation late in the afternoon. Winds becoming SW light to moderate.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with very light precipitation. Light to moderate SW winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds with scattered showers in the morning. Light steady precipitation late in the afternoon. Light SW winds.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with steady generally light to occasionally moderate snow. Light to moderate SW winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds with scattered showers in the morning. Steady light precipitation late in the afternoon. WSW winds becoming light to moderate.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with generally light to occasionally moderate snow. Light to moderate WSW winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds with scattered showers. Precipitation could be locally moderate to heavy. Steady light snow arriving late in the afternoon. Light to moderate but gusty W winds becoming SW.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with generally light snow. Precipitation could be heavier at times near the volcanoes. Light SW winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds with scattered showers in the morning. Steady light snow arriving late in the day. Light to moderate but gusty W winds.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with generally light snow. Light W winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds. Locally moderate to heavy snow showers in the morning. Steady light precipitation expected late in the afternoon. Light to moderate but gusty W ridgetop winds.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate rain and snow. Light to moderate W winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds becoming overcast. Isolated showers possible. Light to moderate W winds increasing in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with light precipitation near the crest and showers further east. Light to moderate W winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds and becoming overcast. Isolated showers near the crest possible. Moderate to strong and gusty WNW winds decreasing in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with light precipitation near the crest and showers further east. Moderate to strong WNW winds.
Sunday
Increasing clouds, becoming overcast. Isolated showers possible near the crest. Light to moderate westerly winds.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with light precipitation near the crest and showers further east. Light to moderate W winds increasing overnight.
Sunday
Increasing clouds with locally moderate snow showers in the morning. Steady light precipitation may arrive late in the afternoon. Moderate but gusty WNW winds, decreasing slightly during the day.
Sunday
Night
Cloudy with generally light precipitation. Moderate WNW 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).