Weather
A quiet spring stretch lasts through the weekend, then the PNW turns cooler and snowier from Sunday afternoon through Friday morning. The first round looks light and mainly favors the Washington Cascades and Whistler, while a broader midweek storm should deliver the best turns of the forecast with the strongest totals at Mt Baker and Timberline. Lower Washington elevations look denser and more variable early, then snow quality improves as colder air settles in during the middle of next week.
Thursday through Sunday morning stays mostly dry across the region, with the best weather of the forecast for spring laps and corn cycles. Clear nights support freezes into the 20s F and low 30s F at most mountains, then afternoon temperatures rebound into the 30s F and 40s F. Guidance is tightly clustered on this quiet stretch, so confidence is high that fresh snow will be scarce and surfaces will keep following a normal freeze-thaw rhythm. The main weather caveat is over the higher Oregon terrain, where ridge-top gusts can still push 40 to 50 mph at times around Timberline and Mt Bachelor even without much precipitation.
Snow chances return Sunday afternoon through Monday, and this first round still looks modest. Guidance is converging on the timing of a weak front, but it still diverges on how far south the steadier snow reaches and on how high snow levels briefly climb at the start. Snow levels during the first push look to hover around 4,000 to 5,000 feet in the wetter bands, then fall toward 2,000 to 3,000 feet behind the front, so the lower Washington resorts may start with denser 7-10 SLR snow before improving to a more moderate 10-12 SLR finish. Wind guidance is fairly consistent in keeping impacts limited outside the exposed Oregon ridges. Expect roughly 1″-3″ for most Washington Cascades resorts, 3″-6″ at Mt Baker, around 2″-3″ at Whistler, and little more than a trace to 1″ farther south.
Monday night and Tuesday look quieter again before a broader storm cycle arrives Wednesday and lasts into Friday morning. Guidance still converges on renewed mountain snow and lower snow levels, but it diverges more on intensity, especially in the Washington Cascades where one wetter solution is much more aggressive than the rest. The wind signal is more stable, with the strongest ridge gusts again focused on Timberline and Mt Bachelor near 50 to 60 mph. Confidence is best from Sunday afternoon through Friday morning for the timing of the pattern change, and within that span the safer call is a widespread moderate cycle rather than a blockbuster. Snow levels mostly settle between 1,500 and 3,500 feet, and snow quality trends from dense 7-10 SLR early to fair or occasionally lighter 10-14 SLR snow later. A conservative expectation is another 5″-12″ at most Washington and Oregon resorts, with 7″-15″ favored at Mt Baker and Timberline and closer to 3″-6″ around Whistler before confidence drops quickly beyond Friday.
Resort Forecast Totals (Sun Mar 29 – Fri Apr 03)
- Mt Baker – 11″-22″
- Timberline – 9″-18″
- Snoqualmie Pass – 7″-15″
- Stevens Pass – 7″-15″
- Mt Bachelor – 7″-14″
- Crystal Mountain – 7″-14″
- Whistler – 4″-9″
