textproduct: Pendleton

KEY MESSAGES

- |Breezy to locally windy conditions continue through today and tonight.

- Light to moderate mountain showers continue in the Washington Cascades.

- Near to just above normal temperature pattern with dry conditions through the area.

DISCUSSION

Radar advertises light to moderate rain returns in the Washington Cascades through this afternoon as zonal flow aloft continues to promote lifting. Current estimates of rain so far near Snoqualmie is around 0.05 to 0.15 inches of rain and will continue to accumulate through the evening hours tonight. Otherwise, tight pressure gradients caused by the split flow is developing breezy to locally windy conditions across the area, with many obs reporting 25 to 35 mph gusts. It's possible we can see some blowing dust from some of these events (10-30% chance), but nothing from the surface suggest anything is currently causing obscure visibility. Winds will stay fairly breezy through the night hours across the Basin, Cascade gaps, and the Kittitas Valley tho not as strong as it is currently. Once we go through the later morning hours, the shortwave will move far enough away that we'll see those PG's loosen and will result in lighter winds.

Guidance is in pretty good agreement over the weekend and into early next week that a ridge just off the Pacific will push into the west coast by Thursday/Friday and amplify as it comes onshore. This will bring drier, warmer conditions with the potential for more elevated fire weather concerns heading into the weekend. Temperatures will gradually warm heading into next week, with highs reaching at least the high 70s to low 80s (50-70% confidence) in most of the lower elevated areas. Light winds with mostly diurnal wind speed changes will prevail with this pattern (70-90% confidence).

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/

VFR conditions prevailing with the weather highlight this period being the winds. Breezy to locally windy conditions will develop/initialize through the afternoon to late afternoon hours with a pre-frontal system pushing through the area. DLS/PDT/ALW/PSC will see sustained winds of 10 to 20 knots with gusts as high as 25 to 35 knots. By the early evening hours, winds will calm down to 12 knots or less.

PSC is currently experiencing MVFR to IFR conditions due to local fires bringing smokey and hazy conditions in the area. It is difficult to forecast how long it should persist, but as daytime mixing improves through the morning we should see some improvement. A TEMPO group via amending may be necessary later on if it persists longer than anticipated.

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs

PDT 49 72 45 73 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 54 72 49 75 / 0 10 0 0 PSC 50 75 47 76 / 0 0 0 0 YKM 51 72 49 73 / 0 0 0 0 HRI 52 74 48 76 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 44 66 43 68 / 20 0 0 0 RDM 39 75 41 77 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 47 70 45 76 / 0 0 0 0 GCD 43 75 44 79 / 0 0 0 0 DLS 55 77 52 79 / 0 0 0 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WA...None. OR...None.