Read from Bend's own weather stations. 19 miles from the summit at 9,068 ft.
Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Mount Baker, Mount St. Helens, Denali, The Olympics, Mount Angeles, Mount Baldy, Mount Bachelor and South Sister. One verdict: IT'S OUT, PARTLY OUT or BEHIND CLOUD. The five-day forecast, the sunrise and sunset light, and webcam images for some mountains. $1.99, one time. No subscription, no ads.
Reading the airports along the sightline.
The five-day forecast is in the app.
Get the app, $1.99Distance from Bend
Bachelor sits west-southwest of Bend (bearing about 254°). Sunrise is the safer bet all year: the sun comes up behind you and lights the face you see. Sunset works in summer, when the sun goes down well to the right of the peak, but near the winter solstice it sets within about 15° of the summit bearing, almost behind it, so you are looking into the glare instead of the color.
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Is Mount Bachelor out right now?
33 miles to the summit.
14 miles to the summit.
US 97 through Bend and Century Drive toward the ski area, with ODOT cameras and reports within 25 miles of Mount Bachelor.
We read the cloud ceilings at the airports between Bend and the summit, the cloud layers at the summit from the MET Norway model, and whether that cloud sits below 9,068 ft. No crowd reports.
Cloud forecasts get less reliable the further out they go. Days four and five are drawn in six-hour steps for that reason, and the forecast stops at five.
Different weather stations, different sky. The same morning can be fog in one and clear in the other, twenty miles apart. Each region page reads its own stations.
Wildfire smoke and haze can hide the mountain on a day the cloud numbers say clear. When the numbers are unsure, the page says so.
Our pick for binoculars: Vortex Diamondback HD 10x42 on Amazon