By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
I am happy to report that the weather map has calmed down considerably. The only thing on the board is a Red Flag Warning for the areas east of the valley into the Cascades. The next weather event that will be taking over the headlines is a Hurricane in the Pacific that has a Tropical Storm Watch out for Southern California. This will play in the forecast for Oregon down the road.
Moving back to the local weather, all the heat related Watches and Warnings across the area have all been removed as the ridge responsible for all the records has weakened and we now see a trough of low pressure move down from the northwest that now rests off the coast. This is enhancing the onshore flow that is pushing in the cooler marine air that kept the temperatures here down to around 70 today. Tonight, we see mostly clear skies with the breezy winds easing later tonight, the lows down near 48.
We may see some patchy fog tomorrow morning, otherwise we are looking at another sunny day with the winds becoming westerly 15-20 gusting to 25, the high up around 74. Tomorrow night we will see some hazy skies, the winds again slowly ease under mostly clear skies, lows near 52.
A sunny, and warmer Sunday in store, along with the breezy afternoon winds becoming northwesterly 14-18 gusting to 30, the high near 76. Partly cloudy skies for Sunday night, again the winds ease late, lows near 52.
Next week our local weather takes a back seat to Hurricane Hilary that is now a Category 4 Hurricane with sustained winds 125 knots gusting to 145 knots. For us non-nautical types, that is around 144 mph sustained with gusts to 167 mph.
What we expect is for the hurricane to increase in speed next week, and weaken, impacting southern California as a Tropical Storm as it races northeastward. From here it is expected to move through Nevada into eastern Oregon. This could bring some impressive rainfall totals to our south and east next week, but for us, we go with partly to mostly sunny days, maybe some patchy morning fog possible, with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s, and some partly cloudy nights with lows in the low 50s, and this is good through at least Thursday.
Worth watching, having been a Hurricane County Forecaster in the past, I can tell you with certainty…that the path of this system is definitely not written in stone! The driver for this system is the upper level high pressure centered over the central U.S. Things in everyone’s favor are the large and tall mountains that will disrupt the flow but will also enhance the lift that drives the rain. The last time a Tropical Storm made landfall in California was in 1939, 84 years ago, so this is another “Once in a Lifetime” event that will be unfolding and will bring heavy, flooding rain to much of southern California.