textproduct: Pendleton

KEY MESSAGES

- Generally quiet weather for this week.

- Diurnal breezes for much of this week, with today Tuesday and Saturday having the best chances for gusty winds.

- Elevated fire weather concerns will continue due to breezy winds and low RH.

DISCUSSION

The Pacific Northwest will be in dry southwesterly flow for much of the week as the area is between high pressure to the southeast over the southern plains/four corners and low pressure near the Gulf of Alaska.

For today, breezy winds are expected to continue behind the passage of the cold front yesterday. However, wind gusts should be less than they were on Saturday, mainly in the 20 to 25 mph range, with some gusts as high as 30 mph. These higher gusts should be confined to the normally breezier locations such as the Cascade gaps, Columbia Basin and Gorge and Simcoe Highlands. NBM probabilities of wind gusts >=25 mph are fairly high, generally >70 percent. However, wind gusts >=39 mph are low, generally 40 percent or less. Elevated fire weather conditions are expected, but at this point fire weather headlines are not anticipated.

Winds will decrease on Monday. before a weak cold front moves across the region on Tuesday. This will cause another increase in wind (and RH). Winds will gust 20 to 25 mph, possibly as high as 30 mph again. NBM probabilities are a little higher than today, for localized area of wind gusts >=39 mph with probabilities as high ad 50-80 percent, but RH values are also higher as stated earlier. Will have to monitor Tuesday for any headlines, but looks marginal at this time.

By Saturday, the flow will become more westerly as low pressure moves into British Columbia and the pressure gradient increases. Exactly how this plays out a week away remains to be seen, but this could be another breezy to windy day.

Temperatures should warm through the week, before possibly decreasing over the weekend as the flow becomes more zonal. Highs should reach the low to mid 90s once again as the ridge in the mid-section of the country moves towards the four corners.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY/

VFR conditions expected through the forecast period, with small chances (5 to 15%) of passing haze or smoke bringing MVFR conditions to all TAF sites. Winds in general will be light initially, but breezy winds with 20 to 30 knot gusts is expected to develop along DLS/PDT/RDM/BDN in the afternoon hours and last through the early evening hours.

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs

PDT 88 56 88 57 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 90 61 90 62 / 0 0 0 0 PSC 92 59 92 60 / 0 0 0 0 YKM 90 57 90 59 / 0 0 0 0 HRI 91 60 91 61 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 84 54 84 55 / 0 0 0 0 RDM 88 49 88 49 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 92 55 90 56 / 0 0 0 0 GCD 93 54 92 54 / 0 0 0 0 DLS 86 59 87 61 / 0 0 0 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WA...Air Quality Alert until 11 AM PDT Monday for WAZ028>030. OR...Air Quality Alert until noon PDT Monday for ORZ049-050-502-503- 505-506-508-509-511.