textproduct: Pendleton

KEY MESSAGES

- Dry, warm and breezy conditions will persist through the early portion of the week.

- A trough will move across the region around midweek and could bring some light showers to the Washington Cascades.

- Another low chance of showers/thunderstorms comes towards the end of the week/mainly over the mountains of central/eastern Oregon.

DISCUSSION

Dry westerly flow will remain in place through Tuesday.

Winds today will mainly be in the 20 to 25 mph range, possibly as high as 30 mph across the Kittitas Valley, Simcoe Highlands, Columbia Basin and Gorge. With temperatures a few degrees cooler than on Saturday and winds a bit lighter, fire weather concerns will decrease but remain elevated.

On Monday, with the exception of the Kittitas Valley, winds will decrease a bit, temperatures remain about the same and humidity increases slightly so fire weather concerns will still be elevated. By Tuesday, winds should decrease even further.

On Wednesday, low pressure will drop south from British Columbia, and create a trough over the Pacific Northwest, which will flatten by later Thursday as the low weakens and moves northeast. While the trough is generally expected to remain dry, it is possible that there could be some light showers to the Washington Cascades.

Dry westerly flow returns for Thursday.

By Friday into Saturday, the flow becomes southwesterly in response to low pressure developing in the Gulf of Alaska and moving southeast. By Friday, and even more so by Saturday, there is a low probability (<20 percent) of showers and thunderstorms mainly over the mountains of eastern and central Oregon. While overall QPF will be light, there could be at least some rain. But of course with any thunderstorms comes lightning and the threat of new fire starts.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z MONDAY/

VFR conditions are expected through the TAF period. Winds will gust 20 to 25 kts at all sites this afternoon and evening except ALW and PSC. Winds will decrease this evening and overnight to 10 kts or less, expect at DLS where they will remain gusty through the period. At ALW and PSC, winds should stay 10 kts or less throughout.

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs

PDT 89 54 88 55 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 91 61 89 61 / 0 0 0 0 PSC 92 57 92 57 / 0 0 0 0 YKM 93 59 92 59 / 0 0 0 0 HRI 91 59 91 58 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 88 56 86 56 / 0 0 0 0 RDM 90 46 89 47 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 92 53 90 53 / 0 0 0 0 GCD 93 53 91 53 / 0 0 0 0 DLS 90 60 89 60 / 0 0 0 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WA...Air Quality Alert until 5 AM PDT Tuesday for WAZ024-026>030- 521>523. OR...Air Quality Alert until noon PDT Monday for ORZ041-044-049-050- 502-503-505>511.