By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Well, yep, yesterday was a hot one. Tillamook got up to 97, Astoria was 95, Portland hit a record 108, Salem made it up to 105 and Eugene 103. The next thing of interest was the smoke from the wildfires the spilled northwestward overnight in the upper atmosphere mainly. The smoke is now impacting the Air Quality (AQ) in the valley with the AQ here at my house in Lebanon now at 47 which is Unhealth for Sensitive Groups. The current Smoke Forecast shows the smoke pushing northward then eastward later in the forecast but remaining over much of western Oregon including the coast. The question is only who sees the denser smoke.
So, the good news, for the coast anyway, is the onshore flow brought in the marine clouds and cooler air overnight that gave us cooler temperatures today and it looks like the cooler temperatures are here to stay for the rest of the week. It appears the valley will see the 100s again today. For us, the clouds return tonight and with calm winds, patchy fog is possible, lows near 55.
Tomorrow we slowly become mostly sunny after the clouds and patchy fog burn off, winds becoming westerly 5-10, the high near 76, then the clouds return again tomorrow night, light winds, lows near 56. It also looks like the valley has a good chance to see the 100’s one more time tomorrow.
The models show the ridge shifting Friday, and weakening finally, but then the models have to struggle with a low pressure area and trough in the Gulf of Alaska moving toward British Columbia, as well as another cut-off low down off the California coast. This results in different model outputs and a less certain forecast. Where they agree is that we will see an increased westerly flow which will cool things down at the coast and over in the valley.
So, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the coast looks mostly sunny still, but with highs around 69, and partly cloudy nights with lows around 51. We will have to keep an eye out on the trough associated with the low pressure area to the north as it could bring us a chance of precipitation by Monday.