A poorly defined low and associated frontal system tracks toward Vancouver Island early Saturday morning. The warm front brought a period of moderate rain and snow to the Mt. Baker area, but has lifted north to the Canadian border, leaving most of the region in the warm sector. Mostly light SSW should continue to bring light rain/showers into the region along with snow levels rising from 4500 in the northern Cascades to 5000 ft in the afternoon with higher snow levels further south. The cold front doesn't make it far onshore before fizzling out and hower activity should decrease in the afternoon as the pulse of energy moves into southern Canada.
A closed low should cut off overnight off the California coast, but it lifts another warm front across northern Washington state for some light rain and high elevation snow. Expect very mild temperatures and continued gradually rising snow levels.
The frontal precipitation may lift entirely north of the region by sometime on Sunday or light rain may linger in the Mt. Baker area much of the day. Most other areas should see mostly cloudy skies and very mild temperatures with freezing levels peaking around 8000-9000 ft.
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
Light rain and snow.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow.
Saturday
Light rain and snow.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow.
Saturday
Light rain and snow showers.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow.
Saturday
Very light rain and snow showers.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow in the evening.
Saturday
Very light rain and snow showers. Variable winds at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow ending overnight. Light E winds at the Pass.
Saturday
Very light rain and snow showers. Variable winds at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow in the evening. Light E winds at the Pass.
Saturday
Very light rain and snow showers.
Saturday
Night
Periods of light rain and high elevation snow.
Saturday
A few very light rain and snow showers with better chances of filtered sunshine in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Saturday
Isolated very light rain and snow showers with better chances of sun or filtered sunshine in the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Mostly cloudy.
Saturday
Very light rain and snow showers primarily in the morning hours. Better chances of sun breaks in the afternoon.
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).