We'll lean into 2025 with an active and complex weather pattern over the next few days. Waves of warm frontal precipitation will slip under an upper level ridge over the next next 48 hours, targeting the far southern WA Cascades including Mt St Helens and especially the Mt Hood area with several bouts of wintry weather.
The first wave will be weak and arrive this evening, affecting mainly the Mt Hood area and then lifting light precipitation towards I-90 Thursday morning. You'll find drier conditions further north towards the Canadian border. By Thursday afternoon, more significant warm frontal precipitation, mostly snow, will again affect the southern WA Cascades and Mt Hood area with lighter showers further north.
Thursday afternoon will be the wind-up for a low pressure system offshore that lifts moderate precipitation northward and into Washington late Thursday night through Friday. Cold easterly flow will do a good job at keeping the precipitation type mainly as snow with this system for the WA Cascades. We can also expect moderate to strong S-SE ridgeline winds that begin Thursday night and last through Friday. While there are still forecast details to work out, the Mt Hood area is at risk for a period of freezing rain anytime Thursday night through Friday morning. Snow levels will creep up to 3000-4000' for areas further west of the crest on Friday like Mt St Helens and Mt Baker, and also for the Olympics.
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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Wednesday
Night
Cloudy with a high overcast.
Thursday
Cloudy with a chance of light rain and snow showers. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy.
Thursday
Cloudy, then scattered light snow showers in the afternoon. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy.
Thursday
Cloudy, then light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then light snow developing overnight. Light to moderate ridgeline winds increasing after midnight.
Thursday
Cloudy, then light to occasionally moderate snow in the afternoon. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds increasing in the afternoon.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then light snow developing overnight. Light E winds at Pass level, and light to occasionally moderate S winds at ridgeline.
Thursday
Cloudy, then light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon. Light to moderate E winds at Pass level, and SE winds at ridgeline.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then light snow developing overnight. Light E winds at Pass level, and light to occasionally moderate S winds at ridgeline.
Thursday
Cloudy, then light to occasionally moderate snow showers in the afternoon. Light to moderate E winds at Pass level, and SE winds at ridgeline.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy.
Thursday
Cloudy with a chance of light snow showers. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy, then chance of light snow after midnight.
Thursday
Cloudy with a chance of light snow showers. Light to occasionally moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Cloudy in the evening, then light snow developing overnight.
Thursday
Cloudy, with light snow developing during the morning. Light to moderate ridgeline winds.
Wednesday
Night
Light to moderate rain and snow developing in the evening and then becoming scattered light showers after midnight. Areas of drizzle or freezing for possible after midnight. Moderate to strong ridgeline winds.
Thursday
Light to occasionally moderate rain and snow. 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).