textproduct: Pendleton

KEY MESSAGES

- Red Flag Warnings in effect for Kittitas and Yakima Valley & Central Mountains of Oregon.

- Breezy winds developing today and during the weekend.

- Warming trend continues.

DISCUSSION

Radar and satellite continue to show our dry trend prevailing in our area. The synoptic pattern explains that a ridge situated over the pacific is influencing the region, with tight pressure gradients developing next to a trough located over the Great Plains. This will introduce breezy winds across the area Wednesday (50-70% chance), with the strongest wind gusts located at/near the Kittitas Valley at 20-30 mph. Dry air with widespread minimum relative humidities in the 5 to 20 percent range prevails, with the driest air located just south of Central Oregon at <10% at times. This will yield elevated fire weather concerns with Red Flag Warnings called for the Kittitas/Yakima region & Central Mountains of Oregon through Wednesday. The ridge will continue to set over the region until at least Friday, where the heat trend will continue through Friday with highs in the 90s in the lower elevated areas. Heat Risk outlooks puts most of the same areas in a level '1.5' to '2.4', broadcasting that the most susceptible people to heat events will be effected.

Deterministic models are in good agreement that over the weekend, the ridge will break down and allow a cooling trend to prevail over the weekend (60-80% chance) and give a temporary break from the heat. Deterministic models are in agreement that a ridge will rebuild over the region, but the extent of the next warming trend is a bit unclear. NBM advertises that much of the Columbia Basin & parts of The Dalles have a 20-40% chance of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Fire weather concerns will continue through at least the next several days (>90% chance) with dry air and breezier air developing in-tandem.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/

VFR conditions prevail with no CIG or VIS issues expected over the next 24 hours. Main concern will be the wind developing to be breezy by the morning to late morning hours, effecting all TAF sites except ALW and PSC. Winds will peak for the breeziest sites at 20-30 knots for gusts and expect to last through the afternoon to late afternoon hours.

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs

PDT 84 51 86 54 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 84 56 87 59 / 0 0 0 0 PSC 88 54 90 58 / 0 0 0 0 YKM 89 54 89 61 / 0 0 0 0 HRI 87 54 89 57 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 81 51 86 57 / 0 0 0 0 RDM 86 45 87 50 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 81 48 86 52 / 0 0 0 0 GCD 85 46 90 51 / 0 0 0 0 DLS 85 57 91 64 / 0 0 0 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WA...Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 9 PM PDT this evening for WAZ690. OR...Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 9 PM PDT this evening for ORZ700.