Pacific Northwest Snow Storm Brings 20 Inches of Snow and 45 mph Winds — And It’s Not Done Yet

In the Pacific Northwest, April is thought to have significance. Seattle’s streets are covered in cherry blossoms. The first weekend without rain in months. With mud still sticking to their boots, hikers were cautiously making their way back to the lower Cascade trails as the snow line began to recede upward. April is meant to feel like that. Whoever created those expectations this year didn’t consider the weather.

Oregon and Washington have been hit by a strong late-season storm that is more appropriate for February than the middle of spring. This week, the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for both states, predicting winds as high as 45 mph and a total snow accumulation of 12 to 20 inches in the Northern Cascades. One of the primary routes that connects eastern and western Washington via Interstate 90, Snoqualmie Pass, is predicted to experience slushy, snowy conditions that make the word “travel” seem almost optimistic. Officials have been straightforward: postpone any unnecessary mountain excursions. The NWS does not speak in such a casual manner.

The extreme cold behind this storm is what makes it feel different, at least to the meteorologists monitoring it. According to senior meteorologist Dave Houk of AccuWeather, it is simply “a cold storm for this time of year,” with temperatures in the Northwest falling between 10 and 25 degrees below the mid-April historical average. In the Washington Cascades, snow levels have dropped to 1,500 feet. It’s not a mountain issue. Drivers who left their snow chains at home sometime in March, believing they wouldn’t need them again until November, and communities situated just above sea level are all affected by this.

This winter has maintained an odd rhythm that is difficult to ignore. Days before this storm made its way into the Northwest, California was still reeling from a record-breaking April snowstorm that dumped almost four feet of snow on Donner Summit, a location already renowned for its harsh winters. In that one event, Donner recorded 43.5 inches. Long after most people had stopped paying attention, the Sierra Nevada continued to pile on massive amounts of snowpack that had already accumulated throughout the season. The Cascades are preparing for their own version of the same unrelenting system as the storm’s energy now shifts northward.

This weather event has a significant impact. In addition to Washington and Oregon, Alaska is also under winter storm warnings. This may not seem shocking, but keep in mind that even Alaska anticipates some seasonal relief by mid-April. At intermediate elevations, several inches to a foot of snow is predicted for Idaho, western Montana, and northeastern Utah. Four to eight inches are expected to fall in Yellowstone National Park. Great Falls, Montana, a city used to severe weather, is still anxiously monitoring the forecast, and Pocatello and Boise may see light accumulations. Not even Salt Lake City is completely clear.

In Colorado, where temperatures are predicted to soar into the 70s on Thursday before plummeting into the 30s by Friday, a certain irony is developing. Cheyenne and Laramie both experience whiplash. The idea that Aspen might receive an inch or two of snow before the end of the week seems ridiculous until you look at the map and see how large this storm system is, pushing inland from the Pacific coast all the way to the Continental Divide and beyond. Northern Arizona, the western Rockies, and the Four Corners region are all encompassed by the same weather phenomenon.

It’s still unclear whether this late-season onslaught indicates something more significant about the springtime climate pattern or if it’s just a statistical anomaly, the kind of unusual cold snap that is filed away as unusual and then largely forgotten by June. This might just be the weather acting as it occasionally does, which is to defy the calendar. The circumstances in Colorado add yet another level of complexity. Denver is currently experiencing severe cold that is arriving in the warmest weeks of the year, despite having received only roughly half of its historical average snowfall this winter. On a five-point rating system, the exceptional drought that is currently affecting Northwestern Colorado is the most severe. Any precipitation that currently reaches the Colorado River Basin, regardless of its type, has real implications for the water supply as summer approaches.

Observing this from a distance, there’s something almost stubbornly persistent about the way this winter has worked throughout the American West: it hasn’t arrived on any schedule that makes sense, it has left record snow in locations and during weeks when it doesn’t often appear, and it has retreated only to come back. For its part, the Pacific Northwest is more familiar than most with this rhythm. The area’s relationship with its weather has always been complex. However, April 2026 is putting that patience to the test, even by local standards.

Eventually, the passes will clear. They do it every time. Really, the question is when.