A warm front will glance the Olympics and northwest Cascades today, delivering more wind than precipitation. Clouds will be thickest in these areas and become more filtered and clearer further south and east. Freezing levels will be on the rise, with the mildest temperatures again further south and east. Increasing offshore flow and SE winds will help keep freezing levels somewhat lower near the Cascade crest and along the east slopes of the Cascades.
The front slows and becomes more north/south oriented overnight, with mainly dry and cloudy conditions over the area. Moderate S-SE winds will continue overnight. The front will weaken as it passes through the Cascades late Saturday morning. A trailing upper level trough will help switch the winds to SW-erly and increase showers over the area. Despite the mild overnight temperatures west of the Cascade crest, snow levels should uniformly come down to around 3500' with the onset of precipitation. Saturday should be a showery and windy day in the mountains.
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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Friday
Periods of light rain and snow, heavier SW slopes of the Olympics. Moderate to occasionally strong ridgeline winds.
Friday
Night
Cloudy with periods of light rain or snow. Strong ridgeline winds.
Friday
Light to occasionally moderate rain and snow. Strong ridgeline winds.
Friday
Night
Cloudy. Chance of light rain or snow. Strong ridgeline winds.
Friday
Cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Night
Cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Partly cloudy with high clouds and filtered sunshine. Ridgeline winds increasing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Partly to mostly cloudy with high clouds and filtered sunshine. Ridgeline and Pass level S-SE winds increasing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Moderate SE ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Friday
Partly cloudy with high clouds and filtered sunshine. Ridgeline and Pass level S-SE winds increasing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Moderate SE ridgeline and Pass level winds.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Partly cloudy with high clouds and filtered sunshine. Ridgeline winds increasing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Mostly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Partly to mostly sunny with periods of high clouds and filtered sunshine. Ridgeline winds increasing in the afternoon.
Friday
Night
Partly cloudy. Moderate ridgeline winds.
Friday
Mostly sunny with periods of high clouds and filtered sunshine in the afternoon. Ridgeline winds increasing 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).