For us Star Wars fans today is a great day to celebrate the Star Wars franchise. Every year on this date I see a number of Star Wars themed shirts and hoodies, and today was no different. Today was also a wonderful day to be outside with highs reaching the mid 70s this afternoon. You can check out the very nice high temps from around the NW today with 60s extending out to the coast as well. I hope you took full advantage of the nice weather, because looming on the horizon is a washout.

Now take a look at the total rainfall expected through Monday night.

Widespread totals around 2 inches here in the Willamette Valley, and what is perhaps even better news are the inch plus totals east of the Cascades where they still could really use the additional precip.

Next check out how much snow is expected as well.

The map above looks more like a winter time map than a early May map with snow levels Friday night through Tuesday running quite low for this time of year. I’m going with a solid 1 to 2 feet of new snow for the Cascades above about 4000′ with up to 10 inches down as low as 3000′. Really great news for delaying the start of any major wildfires.

I know this wet weather is going to start getting old, but it’s what we needed. This is a huge change in pace to the past few springs which have generally been very warm & dry, plus I can assure you that as long as we still have 4 or 5 feet of snow on the ground in the Cascades, our risk of having a big early season fire outbreak is next to none.

Salem’s Extended Forecast

Right here in Salem expect Thursday to be cloudy and wet – a real soaking for sure! Maybe some breezy conditions at times with highs in the upper 50s.

Friday will also be quite wet with periods of heavy showers, but with a slight chance of thunderstorms too – especially if we get lucky and see some sunbreaks that day.

Saturday & Sunday will be more of our typical sunbreak/shower type of days with a number of sunbreaks mixing in between downpours. Small hail, thunder, and lightning are definitely possible all weekend.

Next Monday will be a sunnier version of the weekend with showers slowly building through the course of the day after what should be a fairly sunny AM. Chilly though with lows dipping into the upper 30s possibly. The late afternoon and early evening hours on Monday feature the greatest threat for showers and storms.

I’m searching hard for our next 70 degree day and will alert you the moment I feel confident one is coming. This spring really is vastly different than what we experienced last year, and for the time being there seems to be no sign of things dramatically changing either…

Take care and be kind to each other.

It’s been awhile since I provided you all with a state of the art Bryan Weather Alert forecast! 😉

I’ve been focusing on spending extra time with family and job not to mention our weather here has really not been all that exciting; however, that’s all about to change as we have an extremely dynamic system arriving Sunday night and Monday. There’s a ton to cover with this storm, so let’s get started.

First things first, most of Sunday will still be dry which means you have time to get those outdoor projects done. Sometime between 4 and 6PM is when rain arrives and it should continue to fall through the night. Winds will kick up during the afternoon as the storm approaches with gusts up to 35mph.

This graphic for Monday’s weather covers the coast, Salem area, and the Cascades. Additional details below.

This type of pattern is great for giving the mountains 2 to 3 times as much precipitation as the valley which means tons of snow for the Cascades and a major soaking rain in the Coast Range. The total precipitation map through Tuesday night shows this very well.

The other concern on will be the thunderstorms we COULD see in between sunbreaks on Monday. The atmosphere is going to be unusually unstable Monday which could lead to the sudden development of thunderstorms at any point during the day Monday. These storms have the potential to contain lightning, thunder, and small hail; however, the largest threat with these storms will likely be the heavy downpours, and very gusty winds associated with them. Wind gusts could reach 40 to 45mph with some storms. These winds will be very localized, but they have the potential to cause a few problems for the areas they strike.

There is also a slight risk for a tornado or funnel cloud Monday across the region too.

We’ll see what happens, and of course even in a pattern like this, tornados in Oregon are typically very weak and still few and far between. It’s just going to be a bit more of a risk than we are use to seeing. Something to watch out for.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, Tuesday will be a shower and sunbreak type of day with showers ending abruptly right around sunset. More snow for the Cascades.

Dry, sunny, and beautiful springtime weather Wednesday and Thursday with highs upper 60s Wed, and around 75° on Thu.

The threat of showers returns next weekend, but still a ways out, so we will focus on that later.

Take care and have a great rest of your weekend!!

Right now (just before 11AM Saturday) as I type this up, it’s actually incredibly sunny outside with virtually no clouds in sight; however, things will change quickly this afternoon as a strong cold front races inland. The estimated radar for 2PM today shows a rather heavy band of rain moving right across the region at that time which will end our nice dry weather.

Here’s a link to the satellite loop which is also doing a good job of tracking our incoming system.

https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17&sec=conus&x=6340&y=3143.3333740234375&z=2&angle=0&im=12&ts=1&st=0&et=0&speed=100&motion=loop&maps%5Bborders%5D=white&lat=0&p%5B0%5D=geocolor&opacity%5B0%5D=1&pause=0&slider=-1&hide_controls=0&mouse_draw=0&follow_feature=0&follow_hide=0&s=rammb-slider&draw_color=FFD700&draw_width=6

Notice totals over an inch around Corvallis and of course along the coast. Again, things will change QUICKLY here in the next few hours as we plung back into a very stormy pattern.

Next check out the snowfall totals for today and Sunday.

Plenty of new snow up in the Cascades with about 10 to 15 inches falling above 4000′. Hazardous travel conditions up there from 4/5PM today through most of the day tomorrow. Great news for the snowpack though!

There you have it. A sudden switch to stormy weather approaches. This is the first storm in a long, long series of storms, so I hope you enjoyed the dry weather while it has lasted.

Take care and happy Saturday!!