textproduct: Pendleton

KEY MESSAGES

- Temperatures continue to warm further today with highs reaching the low to mid 80s by the late afternoon hours.

- Cooler pattern with possible rain chances, especially along the mountains later this week.

- Diurnal winds with general breezy winds developing Tuesday and Friday, especially near the Cascade gaps.

DISCUSSION

Radar and satellite imagery continues to display dry conditions with clear to mostly clear skies thanks to the upper level ridge of high pressure continuing to effect the area. This will allow temperatures to continue warming a few more degrees through today, with temperatures in most of the lower elevation areas to rise in the low to mid 80s. The upper level ridge will continue bringing warm southwest flow before another system enters the area by Tuesday. On the fire weather side, winds remain light and variable today, but will pick-up Tuesday afternoon with breezy winds developing across the Columbia Basin, Kittitas Valley, and Cascade gaps. Minimum relative humidities will continue to drop into the 20 to 30 percent range, with locally lower values down to 15 to 20 percent near Central Oregon.

By Tuesday, guidance is in good agreement we'll see our next system push through as a trough offshore will move in British Columbia and push through the rest of the week (>90% chance). What's a bit tricky is how the trough will set-up with timing and strength determining the amount of precip we'll get. For example, the cluster analysis by Friday afternoon has 52% of the clusters having the trough strong enough to bring some precip across our region. Of that 52%, only 22% have widespread precipitation across the CWA while the Cascade mountain region encompasses all 52% of the members. The remaining 48% has a drier set-up with a weaker trough axis across the PacNW, resulting in none, if not very little, QPF's. Chances of rain remain higher in the Cascade mountains at 50 to 70 percent. Meanwhile, chances for widespread QPF's across the Blues, Basin and other lower-elevation sites, chances of rain for those areas remain lower at around 15 to 25 percent through Friday.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/

VFR conditions are forecasted through the TAF period at all sites. All sites will see relatively clear sky conditions throughout the period as well with few-scattered high cloud cover through the morning-early afternoon. Otherwise, winds will be generally light with sustained winds of less than 12 kts, with the exception of DLS experiencing gusts up to 15 mph later in the afternoon. Ames/01

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs

PDT 84 52 76 46 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 85 58 77 52 / 0 0 0 0 PSC 86 55 80 49 / 0 0 0 0 YKM 84 54 80 48 / 0 0 0 0 HRI 86 56 79 49 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 80 50 71 44 / 0 0 0 0 RDM 83 45 75 38 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 83 52 79 45 / 0 0 0 0 GCD 85 51 80 45 / 0 0 0 0 DLS 85 56 75 51 / 0 0 0 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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