textproduct: Medford

UPDATE

Aviation Discussion updated.

AVIATION...26/00Z TAFS

Conditions are mainly VFR with local MVFR ceilings in the Umpqua Valley this afternoon. Ceilings are expected to lift to VFR late today.

With all the recent moisture, fog and low clouds are highly likely overnight tonight and Thursday morning. Expect LIFR/IFR conditions for West Side Valleys. Offshore (easterly) flow should maintain VFR conditions along the coast. Guidance shows some low level clouds spreading northward across areas east of the Cascades tonight, so expect widespread IFR conditions to develop after 10z. Conditions are expected to gradually clear to VFR late Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon.

PREV DISCUSSION

/Issued 220 PM PST Wed Feb 25 2026/

DISCUSSION...With rain diminishing to scattered showers this morning, most rivers, creeks, and streams have crested and are now receding. There is, of course, one notable exception: The Coquille River at Coquille, which remains in minor flood stage and is ever so slightly still rising. This river is known to linger above flood stage for longer than expected, so the Flood Warning there has been extended out through Friday afternoon. Otherwise, all area waterways should start receding soon, if they haven't started already.

Radar imagery this afternoon shows a few light showers still drifting across the area. Coverage should continue to decrease through this evening and may linger into tonight. Snow levels of 4000 to 5000 feet today will lower to about 3000 to 4000 ft by tonight as well, so while there may be some light snow in the mountains, no significant winter impacts, aside from refreezing snowmelt/rainfall perhaps causing some slick spots here and there.

Upper level ridging returns to the area for the latter half of the week, with dry and warmer conditions expected Thursday and Friday, and potentially into Saturday. Area valleys, however, will likely see strong inversions with fog and low clouds overnight and into the mornings, especially west of the Cascades.

Models are continuing to show a warm front approaching the area from the southwest Saturday, with widespread overrunning leading to broad areas of light precipitation Saturday. By Saturday afternoon, the upper level trough will be just offshore, and a shortwave is now forecast to pass overhead sometime later in the day. If this cooler air aloft arrives int time to take advantage of the daytime warming, convection or even some isolated thunderstorms could form due to the developing instability, mainly in northern California, along the Siskiyous and far southern Oregon Cascades, and in southern Klamath and Lake counties. Any place that does get a stronger shower or thunderstorms could see a short-lived dose of moderate to heavy rain and even some hail or graupel, but most locations will just see light precipitation through Sunday. With the arrival of the warm front, snow levels will rise again to well above 7000 feet, so winter impacts are not expected.

High pressure then returns in full force for early next week, with warming temperatures and dry conditions, although another weak system is possible midweek.

MARINE...Updated 200 PM PST Wednesday, February 25, 2026...Gusty north winds will develop this afternoon and evening, hovering right at advisory criteria south of Cape Blanco. This will bring some borderline steep seas to the outer waters south of Cape Blanco that persist through at least Thursday afternoon. Winds/seas look to hover right around advisory levels through much of Friday. By late Friday, the combination of increasing northwest swell and gusty north winds becoming more widespread, steep seas are likely to develop across most of the area waters Friday evening into early Saturday. Conditions improve late Saturday into Sunday, with sub- advisory conditions expected into early next week. /BR-y

MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

OR...None.

CA...None.

PACIFIC COASTAL WATERS...Small Craft Advisory until 4 PM PST Thursday for PZZ376.