You're in for another beautiful spring day across the mountains. Expect plenty of sunshine, warm temperatures, and generally light winds.
With the high pressure parked directly overhead, there aren't any significant steering currents in the atmosphere. This should lead to a noticeable lack of wind in most places. You can even see that this morning at Camp Muir (10,100ft) on Mt Rainier, where the weather station shows peak gusts of around 5 mph! At lower elevations, offshore pressure gradients continue to drive easterly winds for a few locations like Snoqualmie Pass, Crystal Mt, and White Pass. These moderate winds should decrease through the morning.
Without much air movement, today will feel hot! Nearly all sites should reach into the 50s, with a few locations topping 60F. Overnight, temperatures will cool slightly, but most locations stay above freezing. For some areas, this will be the third or even fourth night in a row above 32F/0C. Clear skies should allow temperature inversions to develop. Lower elevation sites, particularly along the east side of the Cascades, have the best chance of dipping below freezing.
Monday looks like a carbon copy of today. We will stay warm and dry until a potential pattern change mid-week.
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
Sunday
Sunny, warm, and light winds.
Sunday
Night
Warm, clear, and light winds.
Sunday
Sunny, warm, and light winds.
Sunday
Night
Warm, clear, and light winds.
Sunday
Sunny, warm, and light winds.
Sunday
Night
Warm, clear, and light winds.
Sunday
Sunny and warm. Light to moderate E winds decreasing mid-morning.
Sunday
Night
Warm, clear, and light winds.
Sunday
Sunny, warm, and light winds. Light E flow at pass level becoming variable in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Warm, clear, and light winds. Variable flow at pass level becoming easterly.
Sunday
Sunny and warm. Light to moderate SE winds decreasing during the morning. Light east flow at pass level becoming variable in the afternoon.
Sunday
Night
Warm, clear, and light winds. Variable flow at pass level becoming easterly.
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).