Weather
A brief midweek cooldown brings the PNW a narrow shot of fresh snow, but most of it is confined to the highest Oregon terrain while much of Washington sees cooler weather with little accumulation. Confidence is highest from Tuesday morning through late Wednesday night, when the main wave crosses the Cascades. Timberline is the clear winner for open terrain with around 7-9 inches, while Mt. Bachelor picks up 4-5 inches but remains closed. Elsewhere, expect more of a spring reset than a powder cycle, followed by a warmer, drier stretch from Thursday into the weekend.
Tuesday starts the transition away from Monday’s warmth as showers increase and the better moisture gradually pivots into Oregon and the central Cascades. The models are converging well on the timing of this change, with the steadiest mountain precipitation centered Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon, but they also agree snow levels stay marginal for much of Washington. Most Washington resorts look too warm or too dry for meaningful new snow, with snow levels generally hovering near 5,000-7,000 feet early before easing lower Wednesday. That leaves Stevens Pass with only a trace to about an inch in the better cases, while Crystal and Whistler mostly come away with cooler clouds and very little fresh snow.
The best ski weather signal is over the higher Oregon volcano terrain, where all guidance points to Wednesday as the heart of the storm. Timing is well clustered, but snowfall intensity still varies from light to modest, which supports a conservative call of 7-9 inches at Timberline and 4-5 inches around Mt. Bachelor terrain from Tuesday morning through late Wednesday night. Snow ratios mostly run 5-11:1, so this is denser spring snow rather than blower powder. Wind is the bigger issue at Timberline, where exposed terrain is likely to gust 60-80 mph on Wednesday, so the resort has the best shot at fresh snow among open areas but also the roughest on-hill conditions.
From Thursday through the weekend, the guidance tightens up again on a drier and warmer pattern across the Cascades. That should turn conditions back toward spring skiing, with daytime mountain temperatures recovering into the 40s at Whistler and Crystal and the 30s near Timberline. Early next week is less certain. Most guidance keeps the PNW on the warm side of normal with only limited precipitation, while a lone wetter solution tries to bring a weak Monday or Tuesday brush-by with light snow at higher elevations. For now that looks too uncertain to sell as a real storm, so the better bet is a mostly dry finish after the midweek refresh.
Resort Forecast Totals (Tue Apr 21 – Wed Apr 22)
- Timberline – 7-9 inches
- Mt. Bachelor – 4-5 inches
- Stevens Pass – 0 inch
- Whistler – 0 inch
- Crystal Mountain – 0 inch
- Mt. Baker – 0 inch
- Snoqualmie Pass – 0 inch
