Headlines

• Sun – Tue: A very wet three day period. Highs in the low 50s.
• Wed: Few leftover showers. Partly cloudy. High of 53°.
• Thu – Sun: Mostly dry. Highs in the mid 50s. I imagine there will be some morning fog, but leading to afternoon sunshine with a few clouds here and there. Lows each morning start out near freezing.

Details

The next three days will be very wet with frequent periods rain. Highs each day in the low 50s. More than 2 inches of rain is expected for the mid Willamette Valley through Tuesday night. 3 to 4 inches of rain in the mountains. Fortunately, some of that will fall as snow up in the Cascades.

Wednesday could feature leftover showers, but nothing long lasting, and sunbreaks will almost certainly make an appearance.

Thursday through next Sunday. This time frame currently looks dry. Highs creeping into the upper 50s, but morning lows still starting out near the freezing mark.

Cascades

Ski resorts can expect 6 to 14 inches of snow with this storm, but they should also expect melting rains at times as well. The boundary between cold and warm air will be draped almost directly over us through Wednesday. This means ski areas will be switching back and forth between rain and snow. Hoodoo has 28″ this afternoon, and it looks like it was a decent day up on the mountain. Let’s see where they are at by Wednesday morning.

“Snow” recap”

Thank goodness our uneventful brush with snow is over. That is hands down the most difficult pattern to forecast. Unlike last February’s snow storm, which was well predicted a few days ahead of time, this setup was very showery with lots of factors at play. Turns out most of us below 1000 feet in the mid valley saw no accumulating snow, but locations near the valley floor west of Hillsboro and Forest Grove saw multiple inches of snow. I also saw beautiful pictures of a snow covered highway near Cascade Head north of Lincoln City (which I’ll try and share at a later date), and snow covered docks near Tidewater, Seaside, and locations near Tillamook.

I expected someone somewhere in the mid Willamette Valley to at least end up with a slushy coating, but we didn’t, and that’s how those showery patterns go. I’m pretty happy I at least maintained the “nothing” or “no snow” outcomes as real possibilities for the valley, because in the end, that’s what most of us saw.

Most likely that was our one and only shot at snow this season, but who knows. Maybe we get another last chance in March. Have a wonderful and safe rest of your weekend!