Yeah, not a whole lot in the way of sun over the next 4 days at all, but that’s wintertime for you here in western Oregon.

Rain is on the way and it looks like my previous forecast is still very much on track (miracles do happen I guess lol….).

Here’s a day by day breakdown of what to expect.

Wed:  Lots of clouds with a few sprinkles/light showers later in the day.  Nothing too bad at all with more dry time than wet.

Thu:  Periods of rain with windy conditions.  Wind gusts 25 to 35mph. A little over half an inch of rain expected.

Fri:  Looks to be the wettest day, specifically later in the day as steady moderate to heavy rain slowly moves across the area from the northwest.  Winds gusting 20 to 35mph.  1 – 2 inches of rain.

Sat:  Rainy much of the day with another inch or more by the day’s end.  Winds will be much calmer with gusts no more than 15mph.

Sun:  A few left over showers with some PM sunbreaks possible.

The Cascades

10 – 15″ of snow now through Sunday above about 4700′.

The two clearest times to travel the Cascade passes will be Friday and Sunday afternoon.

Have a great Wednesday!!!!

We have some extremely wet weather coming up for the second half of the week.  I have plenty of details for you all below.

Extended Forecast

Details

Mon & Tue:  Foggy, cool, and grey.  The calm before the storm.

Wed:  Increasing clouds with showers.

Thu – Sat:  Extremely wet with extended periods of rain (fairly heavy at times) leading to totals of 2 – 4 inches for the mid Valley.  Localized flooding seems like a real possibility with so much rain in such a short timeframe.  Windy Thursday afternoon through Friday morning with gusts 25 to 35mph.

Sunday:  Showers around and cooler.

The Cascades

This will be a warmer storm system which means only some of the precip will fall as snow.  I’m currently forecasting 10 to 15 inches for the Oregon Cascades above 4500′ for the week.  Much larger amounts of snow for the Washington Cascades where the airmass will stay a little bit cooler.

The Coast Range and Coast

Tons of rain with 5 – 10 inches (or more) Wed – Sat.  Expect some landslides and mudslides along with some sharp rises in the rivers and streams in these regions.

A quick update this morning before heading into work.  We have a very powerful storm approaching the southern Oregon coast.  If you have travel plans almost anywhere in the state today or tonight, specifically south from Salem southward through northern California keep in mind the potential for weather delays and hazards is high.

You can see the storm approaching the coast right here:

https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17&z=2&im=12&ts=1&st=0&et=0&speed=130&motion=loop&map=1&lat=0&opacity%5B0%5D=1&hidden%5B0%5D=0&pause=0&slider=-1&hide_controls=0&mouse_draw=0&follow_feature=0&follow_hide=0&s=rammb-slider&sec=conus&p%5B0%5D=geocolor&x=6750&y=3186

Impacts here in Salem should be fairly minimal compared to the rest of the state with periods of rain and gusty north/northeast winds as the day goes on.

The Coast Range and Cascades will see a good deal of snow with this storm, but even valley locations south near Eugene have a shot at seeing a little bit of snow tonight with this storm.  I have a feeling Salem will be too far north to see any sticking snow.  You can keep track of regional temps and the progress of the cold air moving in behind the storm right here:

High temps Wed – Sat should be around 40 – 43 degrees, and lows will be in the 18 – 24 degree range.  Very chilly for the end of November.

I’m still watching the potential for some wintry precip Sunday.  Not a lot at this point, but keep in mind there could be some snow or freezing rain that day.

I will likely have another update tonight.  Remember to look for updates on Instagram as well.

Have a great Tuesday!!!

Not too many posts from me lately as the weather has been very stable, or boring – depending on your point of view.  This will be changing in a big way as we head into Thanksgiving week.

Highlights

Perhaps the most important thing is that Wed – Sat will be dry right around here meaning good traveling weather for your fun thanksgiving plans.

Sunday:  Lots of clouds around with sprinkles early on.  Nothing real exciting.

Monday:  Cloudy with a few showers.

Tuesday:  Currently it looks like we stay breezy with periods of rain.  Cold air will be pushing in all day which means by Tuesday night snow levels will be down to around 1000′.

Wednesday:  A few sprinkles or flurries (nothing sticking at this point) possible early on before drying out.

Thu & Fri:  Very cold, sunny, and dry.

Saturday:  Cold with increasing clouds late in the day.

Sunday:  Watching the potential for some freezing rain and or snow here in the valley.

I will certainly have updates as the week goes on, especially for the storms Tuesday night and Sunday.

The Cascades

Mon – Wed look fairly snowy above 3000′ with 8 to 12 inches falling.  This is good news for skiers, but bad for travel plans.

Central Oregon

Snowy Tuesday night through Wednesday night.

Washington State

The storm on Tuesday is sliding by to our south, so if your adventures take you into Washington you should be mostly in the clear.

Here we go again with more chances for snow only this time it’s March.  I’ll get to all the fine details soon, but first the extended forecast.

In a nutshell I see several more opportunities for wintry weather before gradually warming up Saturday through Monday.

All the details

Tonight we slowly cool off back close to freezing.  Just like last week’s little snowstorm I’ll keep a close eye on the temperatures as they will be an important indicator as to what falls from the sky later on.  Regardless of temps, precip should arrive around midnight (give or take an hour or two).  Precip will be very light and spotty at first as we have very dry air for it to overcome.  Depending on how thick the cold air above us is we could see freezing rain, sleet or snow.  I’m leaning towards a mix of all three, but more ice than snow as we will be right in the “battle zone” of the different air masses.

Precipitation will be very light:  This looks like a drier version of last week’s storm that dropped 1 – 2 inches of snow.  I’m going for a dusting of snow with areas of ice.  Could be a messy early morning commute.

It’s March now which means even on a cloudy day the angle of the sun and it’s increased energy is enough to melt snow and ice off of roads from roughly 9 or 10am to 5pm), so travel during most of the day should be just fine even if snow is still flying through the air.

Cold air will be rushing in behind this storm giving us our second shot at snow Wednesday night.  This is manly for the east side of the Willamette Valley.  Basically the further east you live the better chance you have at seeing an inch or 2 of snow Wednesday evening/night.

Early Thursday morning a batch of heavier showers looks to roll in sometime between 4am and 10am.  Temps are forecast to be right around 31 – 34° which means we could pick up a quick inch or two of very wet/slushy snow to start our day off.  More rain and snow showers will fall the rest of the day.  Just like Wednesday, there should be no travel concerns past about 10am.  The rest of the day should be just fine.

Same story for Friday.  Morning snow will give way to a few afternoon rain showers.

Beyond Saturday it looks like we have a brief warm up and dry break coming for Sunday and Monday.  If this holds true it will feel very nice after this cold week.

THE CASCADES AND BEYOND

Tonight through Saturday morning I expect snow at times in the Coast Range, and plenty of snow in the Cascades even during the daytime up there above 2000′.  The Gorge will also be messy, so if you plan on traveling through any of these regions be prepared for wintry weather with snow and ice.