Our cool early March weather pattern featuring refreshing shots of light snow will continue over the next few days. An upper level trough will remain parked offshore with the main low pressure center spinning well off the central Washington coast this morning. Light snow showers and generally cloudy skies, aided by light upsloping and E-SE winds along the east slopes of the Cascades will continue through today. Along the west slopes of the Cascades, Mt Hood and the Olympics, there will be more of a mix of sun and clouds this morning. With that cool upper trough overhead, the air mass is unstable and showers will increase this afternoon. The more intense showers will feature periods of moderate snow. The Mt Hood area in particular, will see more organized bands of showers pass through early this morning, and again in the afternoon. Freezing levels will pop up to near or above 3000' for most areas today, but the snow levels will quickly plummet to 2000' with showers. While forecast precipitation amounts are generally light, many areas will see up to a few inches of new snow before sunset.
We should see shower activity become more isolated Monday night as snow levels fall to 1000' and E-SE ridgeline winds approach the moderate range in many areas. Tuesday looks like a rinse and repeat from today with increasing showers in the afternoon.
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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Monday
Partly to mostly cloudy this morning with isolated snow showers. Becoming mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the afternoon. Showers heavier SE slopes of the Olympics. Moderate ridgeline winds in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the evening, then partly cloudy with isolated snow showers after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Monday
Partly to mostly cloudy this morning with isolated snow showers. Becoming mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the evening, then partly cloudy with isolated snow showers after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Monday
Partly to mostly cloudy this morning with isolated snow showers. Becoming mostly cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the evening, then partly cloudy with isolated snow showers after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Monday
Partly to mostly cloudy this morning with isolated snow showers. Becoming mostly cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the evening, then partly cloudy with isolated snow showers after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Monday
Cloudy this morning with scattered light snow showers. Becoming mostly cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon. Light east winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers. Light to moderate east winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Monday
Cloudy this morning with scattered light snow showers. Becoming mostly cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon. Light to moderate east winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers. Moderate east winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Monday
Cloudy with light snow showers.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers.
Monday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Monday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered light snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Monday
Cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers this morning. Showers becoming more scattered with broken skies late morning, and then increasing again in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds in the morning easing in the afternoon.
Monday
Night
Mostly cloudy with light to occasionally moderate snow showers. Moderate ridgeline 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).