It’s Thursday night when I’m writing this, and wanted to give another update concerning our weather conditions leading up to Christmas and the days to follow.

Highlights

The mostly dry weather continues now through Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon is when the action starts to pick up as the first of multiple storms moves in. Sometimes when forecasting several days out I notice trends, and in next week’s case there is a currently a trend for storms to take direct aim at Oregon and Washington.

1.) Flooding: At this point there is no immediate or obvious threat for flooding, but I will continue to watch closely for any signs of that changing. For the moment plan on only minor flooding near small drainage creeks or basins. As time goes on and the soil saturates more, flooding could become a more serious issue. Something to watch closely.

2.) The increasingly high chance for strong winds here in the Willamette Valley. The time frame I’m most concerned about is Wednesday through Sunday (25th – 29th). This time frame will feature some very strong storms out in the pacific, but this is more of a heads up still than a forecast as we are still multiple days out.

3.) Waves and wind at the coast. The Oregon coast will be living up to its true nature over the next ten days. Powerful winds and high waves will make the coast both exciting to be at and dangerous at times. Swells as high as 40 feet continue to show up on the many forecasts I track at various times next week. Those will make for some great storm watching conditions, but they could also cause localized areas of coastal flooding.

The winds out along the coast will also be quite strong at times. Just this past Tuesday night the coast experienced winds of 50 to 70mph between Newport and Pacific City knocking out power to several thousand people. The coast is no stranger to wind, but several more rounds of that will take its toll. Wind gusts 40 to 50mph are expected out there Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and possibly much stronger winds Wednesday through Sunday of next week.

4.) Mountain snow. Due to the warmer nature of some of these storms, the Cascades may not bee too bad for travel. The snow level hovers right around 4500 to 5500 feet over the next several days meaning there could be snow near the very tops of many of our local passes from time to time, but it won’t be much or long lasting.

Practical steps to take. Knowing that it’s the busy Christmas season, just check around the house and make sure you are prepared if you lose power for an extended period of time. It’s not sure bet, but chances are much higher than usual for strong winds here in the valley at some point over the next ten days. I’ll keep watching things closely with both another update and additional details hopefully in a couple days.

Have a wonderful and safe Friday! One more day with my students before we head off for break. 🙂