Category: Salem Area Forecast

The calm before the storm

On By bryanweatherIn Salem Area Forecast, WEATHER ALERTSLeave a comment

Highlights

  • A powerful and fast moving windstorm is on the way for tonight. I’m thinking gusts will briefly peak in the 45 to 60mph range which is strong enough to bring down trees and knock out power in places.  The winds will only last a few hours – a very quick hitting storm.  Timing of strongest winds should be roughly between 8pm to midnight.

 

  • Showers with this storm will be quite vigorous. Don’t be shocked if you see some lightning, hear some thunder, or get a hail shower.  This threat goes through Sunday evening.  Breezy/gusty winds could accompany these showers.

 

  • Snow levels are very high right now, but will fall rapidly tonight and through much of the day tomorrow. By Sunday morning snow could be falling as low as 1000’.  Again this shouldn’t affect Salem, but if you plan to go into the Coast Range or if you travel into the Cascades it won’t be long before you run into snow.

 

The previous forecast for Monday & Tuesday still applies with a few lingering showers Monday and periods of rain on Tuesday.

Wednesday & Thursday look wet with showers at times.

Friday:  A couple showers around.

Stormy weather

On By bryanweatherIn Salem Area Forecast, The Mountains and BeyondLeave a comment

Highlights

Very active weather on tap for the entire Willamette Valley these next several days.

First things first, we have a pretty strong wind event headed our way Saturday evening into early Sunday morning.  Wind gusts should be in the 35 to 50mph range with chances that they go a little higher or lower depending on the exact track of the storm. Regardless it will be a rainy and windy night.  You can see the storm on the visible satellite right here.  Very impressive looking!!

Saturday night’s storm curling up and heading our way.

Sunday will be chilly & breezy with cold showers streaming onshore.  Could even see a hail shower or two.

Sunday night & Monday will be even chillier with a couple showers left over.  Snow levels will only be around 1000’ (possibly lower).  This means the Coast Range and Cascade foothills could see some snow (1 – 3”).  The snow potential does not affect the Salem area at this time…   

Here’s just one of the many snow maps I look at to help make my forecasts. This is total snowfall in inches ending Tuesday night.

A lot of purple and darker pinks in the Cascades indicating 6 to 12 inches of new snow up there with even more on the highest peaks.
Take away message:
  1. Cascade passes will be snowy Saturday night through Tuesday morning.
  2. Coast Range will be seeing snow at times Sunday – Tuesday AM.
  3. Foothills down to 1000′ will see an inch or two Sunday night/Monday morning.

Tuesday could be a bit interesting with a warm front pushing up from our southwest bringing plain old rain, but with cool air in place I could see the foothills and Coast Range communities start out with a brief snow or ice mix before changing to rain.  Something else to keep an eye on.

Wednesday & Thursday:  Lots of clouds with a few showers.

Friday:  Foggy & mostly cloudy.

Feel free to track the storm on satellite with link: http://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17&z=1&im=14&ts=1&st=0&et=0&speed=50&motion=loop&map=1&lat=0&opacity%5B0%5D=1&hidden%5B0%5D=0&pause=20190104193219&slider=-1&hide_controls=0&mouse_draw=0&follow_feature=0&follow_hide=0&s=rammb-slider&sec=conus&p%5B0%5D=geocolor&x=4458.13330078125&y=4418.933349609375

More updates to follow, so stay tuned!!!!

First Forecast of 2019

On By bryanweatherIn Salem Area ForecastLeave a comment

I’ve taken some “time off” relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family and I hope you all had the same chance, but the new year is here and it’s time to get back into the swing of things.  Here’s a look at the next 7 days.

Jan 2

Highlights

Thursday will be a mostly cloudy day with just a few sprinkles.  More sprinkles and light rain the further northwest you go, so places like Amity, McMinnville, and the Portland area should all have a wetter day than those of us in the mid valley.

There is a greater than usual amount of uncertainty with the forecast for next week.  Currently it’s looking like Sunday – Tuesday will be quite wet with strong winds possible Monday evening and Tuesday.  Showers on Wednesday.

December 26th

On By bryanweatherIn Salem Area Forecast, The Mountains and BeyondLeave a comment

The Valley

A quick day after Christmas forecast for you all.  Nothing too exciting heading our way.  Just cool weather with rain at times and lots of clouds.  Basically I don’t see a whole lot of sunshine in the near future for us.

Dec 6

 The Cascades

The recent mountain snow, which I (so humbly) predicted has brought Hoodoo’s base up to about 40” which is awesome news!!  I see at least another 9 – 12 inches of new snow coming between now and Sunday night which will add to our now growing and somewhat respectable snowpack.

Snow levels look to be around 2000 – 2500’ today and tomorrow.   4500’ dropping down to 2000’ on Sunday.   

Snowy pass conditions today, Thursday, and again on Sunday.  Expect spots of ice and snow all the other days as the lack of sun will make it tough for the roads to really clear up.

 That’s all I got, so be safe and enjoy the rest of your week! 

Christmas time forecast

On By bryanweatherIn Salem Area ForecastLeave a comment

Christmas time is here which means this one man forecasting team hasn’t been posting quite as often, but I managed to squeeze some time in today for you all 😉    Before giving the forecast details for the next 7 days I thought I would give a fast recap to our “big storm” from this past Monday night.

The rain totals ended up being spot on with Salem recording 1.86 inches of rain Monday & Tuesday combined; although the majority of this fell Monday night while most of us were sleeping, so it may not have felt like much of a storm.  We also recorded a max wind guest of 48mph very early Tuesday morning which is the strongest we have seen all winter.  Overall not a huge storm, but definitely the “best” storm we have seen this year.

Looking ahead we don’t have any big storms or arctic blasts headed our way.  No chances for valley snow either, just some regular valley rain and mountain snow.

Dec 5

Details

Saturday evening through Tuesday morning will be the wettest period of the next 7 days. 

Notice a lot of yellow highlighting on the extended forecast.  There is a lot of uncertainty for next week, so keep an eye out for changes.  For now this is my best guess.

Big storm headed our way

On By bryanweatherIn Salem Area ForecastLeave a comment

Dec 4

Big storm details

Clouds continue to increase through the day with steady rain arriving during the later PM hours.  Expect moderate to heavy rain to fall all night long and through the early morning hours.  Strong gusty winds (likely the strongest we have seen this winter) will accompany this rainstorm with gusts 40 to 50mph!!  Rainfall will be very high during this short period of time.  Between now and Tuesday night most places in the Mid-Willamette Valley will see between 1 inch of rain for the “drier” locations and up to 3 inches of rain in the wettest of spots!!!  Keep an eye out for those usual flood prone locations/problem areas.

The rest of Tuesday afternoon will be showery and breezy.  Some showers will be quite heavy.

Rest of the week

Wednesday:  Patchy fog possible; otherwise partly cloudy and dry.

Thursday:  Dry start.  Partly cloudy giving way to late day rain.

Friday:  A few showers.

Saturday:  Showers.

Sunday:  Rainy.

Our driest times this week:  Wednesday and Thursday morning, and maybe late in the day on Friday.