Well, our luck with nice, dry weekends was bound to end eventually, and apparently this weekend is going to be that time. We have a few more mainly dry, albeit partly cloudy days ahead with mild afternoons. Showers return Friday evening with wet weather dominating both Saturday and Sunday.

• WED & THU: Dry. Highs in the low 70s.
• FRI: Mostly dry, but chance of a late day shower/thunderstorm. High near 70°.
• SAT & SUN: Wet. Highs in the upper 50s to near 60°.

Details

Here’s the big picture for this weekend. Western Oregon will be under the influence of a cutoff upper level low Friday through Sunday. At first we will be under a southerly flow as depicted here. This type of flow is how we get thunderstorms in the Willamette Valley during spring and summertime. Note the flow up at around 18,000 feet heading into Oregon from the south Saturday morning.

Friday

Partly cloudy skies will turn mostly cloudy in the late afternoon and early evening hours as a few showers and maybe even a thunderstorm roll in from the south. This map is for 2pm Friday.

Saturday

By Saturday evening, it’s raining pretty good across most of western Oregon with snow in the Cascades.

Sunday

Wet weather continues for Sunday. This is for 5pm Sunday, and it shows a lot of steady rain falling from the B.C. border down through the entire Willamette Valley. High around 58°.

We are still several days away, and while some details may change, it’s becoming clear this coming weekend is going to be a wet one. Not just a quick shower, but probably over an inch of rain between the two days! Yes, a spring soaker is on the way!

Next week looks wet at times too. Monday and Tuesday will probably be dry, but as of right now, it looks like another very wet system arrives Wednesday the 15th and could last through next Thursday bringing rain to the middle of our work week.

We need the rain though, and this is good news. Yes, it’s a real bummer for baseball games and track and field, but it’s needed. With virtually no snowpack to speak of, it’s wet systems like these that could save us from a drought disaster this summer. We can’t fix the snowpack at this point, far too late for that, but we can keep the ground water filled up, the streams and rivers running at normal levels, and our forests well watered.

That’s it for tonight. Stay safe and have a wonderful rest of your week!