textproduct: Pendleton

KEY MESSAGES

- An upper level trough will bring continued breezy winds and cooler temperatures today.

- A second trough Friday night or Saturday will bring more breezy conditions and cooler, below normal temperatures.

DISCUSSION

An upper level low will move into British Columbia later today. The trough associated with the low will move by to the north, but a frontal boundary will move across the region. Temperatures will be about 10 degrees cooler today than on Wednesday.

Winds will remain gusty today, similar to Wednesday, possibly even a bit higher. Winds should gust in the 25 to 35 mph range across the Kittitas Valley, Simcoe Highlands, Columbia Gorge, Columbia Basin and FOothills of the Blue Mountains. NBM probabilities of wind gusts >=25 mph in these areas is generally greater than 80 percent. However, wind gust probabilities >=39 mph is less than 30 percent except for a few local pots where it is greater than 50 percent.

The cooler temperatures will also cause a decrease in relative humidities by about 5 to 10 percent on average. As a result fire weather conditions will remain elevated, but not critical today.

Another trough/upper low moves down from the northwest later Friday into Saturday. Much like the system today, this low and trough will bring gusty winds to the Kittitas Valley, Simcoe Highlands, Columbia Basin and Gorge and Foothills of the Blue Mountains. It will also bring cooler temperatures. NBM probabilities of wind gusts >=25 mph are greater than 90 percent in these areas while NBM probabilities of wind gusts >=39 mph are generally <30 percent except for the Kittitas Valley and some local areas in the Columbia Basin.

With the passage of this trough and associated cold front, high temperatures will be in the 70s in most areas, which will be about 10 to 15 degrees below normal. Overnight lows will drop into the 40s across a wide swath of the area by Sunday morning.

Flow will become more southwesterly early next week before another system brings more gusty winds and possibly some mountains showers around Tuesday.

For anyone interested in eclipses, tonight there will be a partial lunar eclipse. It will be about 93% coverage. With sunset being around 740 PM or so, depending on your location, the moon will already be in eclipse when the sun goes down. Peak eclipse will be around 912 PM PDT and the eclipse will end around 1051 PM PDT. The sky looks to be relatively clear, the only concern will be if there is any smoke or haze from nearby wildfires in your vicinity. Hopefully, today's gusty winds keep the smoke away.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z FRIDAY/

VFR conditions are expected through the TAF period.

Winds should gust this mainly this afternoon and evening in the 20 to 25 kt range (and most of the day at DLS). Winds should decrease to 10 kts or less during the evening hours. The gusty winds should help alleviate smoke at the TAF sites, though local smoke effects can not be ruled out, especially during the morning hours.

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs

PDT 82 46 80 50 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 85 53 82 55 / 0 0 0 0 PSC 88 50 85 50 / 0 0 0 0 YKM 86 54 84 52 / 0 0 0 0 HRI 85 52 84 51 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 77 48 76 47 / 0 0 0 0 RDM 82 40 81 38 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 88 48 85 49 / 0 0 0 10 GCD 91 51 87 50 / 0 0 0 10 DLS 80 56 81 55 / 0 0 0 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WA...Air Quality Alert until noon PDT Friday for WAZ026-522-523. OR...Air Quality Alert until noon PDT Friday for ORZ041-505-506- 509>511.