We'll have another day of variable cloudiness on the west side of the Cascades and the Olympics, cloudier conditions on the east side of the Cascades and Mt Hood, and a regional-wide increase in scattered shower activity this afternoon and early evening. E-SE winds will be a notch stronger today and Tuesday night for the central and south Washington Cascades. Afternoon freezing levels will be 3000-4000' across the region, with the warmest temperatures reserved for the northwest and central-west Cascades where extended sunbreaks and a bit of downsloping should allow them to pop up a bit more than other areas. That said, the air mass over us for the next few days is cold and temperatures will decrease rapidly with elevation, so don't be fooled by lower/mid elevation sites with near or above freezing readings. Showers that form this afternoon should drift from SE to NW across the area. During intense showers, there may be periods of graupel.
We'll see a mixed bag of cloud cover on the west side Tuesday night as showers fizzle and continued cloudy conditions on the east-side thanks to continued easterly flow and light upsloping. On Wednesday, the forecast will be similar to today although the air mass looks slightly more unstable and there's an organized upper level feature swinging through Oregon/southern WA to provide additional lift in the afternoon, so there's the potential for more intense afternoon and early evening showers, especially for the south WA Cascades and the Mt Hood area.
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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Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy in the morning with a chance of a snow shower. Becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with scattered snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers in the evening. Becoming partly to mostly cloudy after midnight.
Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy in the morning with a chance of a snow shower. Becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with scattered snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers in the evening. Becoming partly to mostly cloudy after midnight.
Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy in the morning with a chance of a snow shower. Becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with scattered snow showers.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers in the evening. Becoming partly to mostly cloudy after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy in the morning with a chance of a snow shower. Becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with scattered snow showers. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers in the evening. Becoming partly to mostly cloudy after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning with a chance of a snow shower. Becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with scattered light snow showers. Light to moderate east winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy. Scattered light snow showers in the evening then decreasing after midnight. Light to moderate E-SE winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Tuesday
Cloudy in the morning with a chance of a snow shower. Becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with scattered light snow showers. Moderate east winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy. Scattered light snow showers in the evening then decreasing after midnight. Moderate E-SE winds at Pass level and ridgeline.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a chance of light snow showers in the morning. Scattered light snow showers in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy. Scattered light snow showers in the evening then decreasing after midnight. Periods of moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a chance of light snow showers in the morning. Scattered light snow showers in the afternoon. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy. Scattered light snow showers in the evening then decreasing after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Cloudy with a chance of light snow showers in the morning. Scattered light snow showers in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy. Scattered light snow showers in the evening then decreasing after midnight. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of light snow showers in the morning. Becoming cloudy with scattered light snow showers in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Night
Cloudy. Scattered light snow showers in the evening then decreasing after midnight. Periods of 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).