The big picture has transpired more or less according to plan with one main issue. The sharp cutoff in precip I mentioned in previous forecasts ended up occurring a little further west than anticipated leaving the entire Willamette Valley (not just the east side) basically dry these past two days with only a few sprinkles here and there. The coast and a number of locations in the Coast Range still received decent rainfall with both Tillamook and Astoria picking up close to half an inch of rain so far this week.

Today we stay dry until this evening when thunderstorms and some fairly heavy rain showers finally move in across all parts of the Willamette Valley. My best guess is showers and storms arrive between 7 and 9pm. It could be quite the lightning show for some of you tonight. Thankfully these storms will bring plenty of heavy rain with them, so lightning shouldn’t pose too much of a threat in term of starting new fires. Strong gusty winds are also possible with these storms.

Heavy rain showers continue on Friday. The showers on Friday will be slow to move, so if you get caught under one you can expect a good soaking. Slight chance of thunder and lightning tomorrow as well.

Here are projected rainfall totals now through Saturday evening, and while it’s possible some of us won’t get quite this much rainfall, the big pictures is everyone’s getting rain, and a bit of it. Nice to see a decent soaking in the forecast! Feel free to click image for a larger view.

We will see a dramatic improvement in air quality tonight and Friday with these heavy rain showers and storms. In fact we have a decent chance at seeing regular blue skies over Salem, in between showers of course, tomorrow and even more so on Saturday assuming we can clear out of the clouds enough. Our smoky saga is finally almost over…