The Pacific Northwest stays mostly springlike through the weekend, then turns colder with the most dependable new snow from Tuesday through Thursday. Early showers look too warm for widespread accumulation, but next weeks storm drops snow levels enough for the best refresh of the forecast, led by Mt. Baker, Timberline, Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, and Crystal Mountain, while exposed terrain on Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor looks quite windy during the heart of the storm.
Friday stays mild and mostly dry, then showers spread north through Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Guidance is converging on the timing of this unsettled turn, but it still diverges on how quickly enough cold air reaches the mountains for useful snow. Snow levels mostly sit around 5,500-7,000 feet Saturday, then ease toward 4,000-5,500 feet by Sunday into Monday, so most areas see mixed precipitation or rain at lower and mid mountain while the highest Oregon terrain picks up only 2-5 inches of dense snow with SLRs mainly in the 4-10 range. Washington and Whistler look more like spring refresh showers than true powder days through Monday.
The better storm arrives Tuesday and peaks Tuesday night into Wednesday before tapering through Thursday. Confidence is highest from Tuesday morning through Thursday night, when guidance is most tightly clustered on onset, cooling, and a widespread Cascade refresh, though there is still moderate spread on intensity. Snow levels fall to around 500-2,500 feet in Washington and Whistler and roughly 1,500-3,500 feet in Oregon during the colder core, while mountain temperatures settle into the 20s. That supports a realistic regional outcome of 10-20 inches at the favored northern Cascades and Mt. Hood, with 5-10 inches more likely at Whistler and Mt. Bachelor. Snow quality should improve from dense to fair Tuesday with SLRs near 6-10 to moderate and occasionally lighter Wednesday with SLRs around 10-14, especially at Baker, Stevens, Whistler, and the higher Oregon terrain. Wind guidance also clusters around exposed gusts of 50-80 mph on Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor, while Washington areas look notably less windy.
After Thursday, the pattern stays cooler but details drop off in confidence for Friday into next weekend. Guidance diverges sharply between a mostly showery leftover pattern and a more organized follow-up wave, so timing, intensity, snow levels, and wind impacts all carry much lower confidence by then. The broader signal still favors a cooler, somewhat unsettled Northwest rather than a warm dry break, which should help preserve surfaces better than this weekends milder pattern. For now a conservative read is another 2-6 inches at many resorts and perhaps 4-8 inches where the northern Cascades or Mt. Hood catch the wetter version, with snow quality generally dense to moderate.
Resort Forecast Totals (Tue Apr 14 – Thu Apr 16)
- Mt. Baker – 11-22 in
- Timberline – 10-19 in
- Stevens Pass – 10-18 in
- Snoqualmie Pass – 9-17 in
- Crystal Mountain – 8-16 in
- Whistler – 6-11 in
- Mt. Bachelor – 4-8 in