Temperatures cooled behind Friday's frontal systems with cool temperatures - upper 10s through the lower 30s throughout our mountain areas on Saturday morning. A system approaching from the NW on Saturday will maintain cloudy skies over much of the region with light rain/snow slowly starting up along the central and northern Cascades west slopes and in the Olympics. Light to moderate rain/snow develops from Mt. Rainier northward during the evening hours and becomes moderate to heavy for much of the mountains of Washington State as the front slides down the Cascades. Winds, precipitation rates, and temperatures all peak overnight. Most areas should remain all snow, but 3500 ft and below from Snoqualmie Pass southward should have a transition to rain. The cold front moves through from the early morning hours in the north to late morning around Mt. Hood, bringing strong cooling and moderate convective showers focusing on the west slopes of the Cascades.
Snow should stack up with this system with around 1 ft expected for Mt. Baker, Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie Pass (above 4000 ft), and Paradise.
Weather Forecast
Olympics
West North
West Central
West South
Stevens Pass
Snoqualmie Pass
East North
East Central
East South
Mt. Hood
Use dropdown to select your zone
Saturday
Cloudy with light rain and snow developing during the afternoon.
Saturday
Night
Light to moderate snow. Moderate ridgeline winds with strong gusts.
Saturday
Cloudy to start with light rain/snow developing from mid-morning onward.
Saturday
Night
Moderate to heavy rain and snow. Moderate ridgeline winds with strong gusts.
Saturday
Cloudy to start with light rain/snow developing from late morning onward.
Saturday
Night
Moderate to heavy rain and snow. Moderate ridgeline winds with strong gusts.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy.
Saturday
Night
Increasing rain/snow - heavy at Paradise, light to moderate at Crystal and White Pass.
Saturday
Periods of very light rain/snow develop during the afternoon. Increasing mostly light ridgeline winds; increasing light to occasionally moderate W wind at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
Moderate snow becoming heavy. Moderate to strong ridgeline winds peaking after midnight. Increasing light W wind at the pass becoming moderate.
Saturday
Cloudy with periods of very light rain/snow most likely at the beginning or end of the day. Increasing mostly light ridgeline winds; increasing light to moderate W wind at the Pass.
Saturday
Night
Moderate snow becoming heavy and changing to rain below 3500 ft during the early morning hours. Moderate to strong ridgeline winds peaking after midnight. Moderate W wind developing at the pass.
Saturday
Light snow develops during the late afternoon hours. Increasing moderate ridgeline winds.
Saturday
Night
Light snow becoming moderate. Moderate ridgeline winds become strong overnight.
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).