By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Monday, December 16, 2024
It looks like we are in for another wet week with several fronts expected to bring rain to the coast pretty much all week. Today, we had a low pressure area over the Pacific that pushed a front across. Now we see showers associated with a trough swing in on the southwesterly flow. Later tonight, we see another warm front approaching and bringing in heavier rain with southerly winds 5-10, the low temperature only down to near 47.
Tomorrow sees more rain with the front, an Atmospheric River event with the rain heavy at times, and breezy southerly winds 8-12 to start but increasing to 15-10 gusting to 35 in the afternoon with gusts 45-50 possible at the beaches, the high near 56. Rainfall totals from this system likely around 1-2” at the coast, possibly as much as 3 to 5” in the Coast Range, then with the rain easing some tomorrow night as the system drifts northward, we are looking at around ½ to ¾” of additional rain. The winds remain gusty until the early morning hours when they finally ease, overnight lows near 47 once again. The chance of river flooding, while not zero, is currently low but bears watching.
A High Wind Watch has been issued from Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday morning.
The southwesterly flow pushes another fast-moving cold front across later Wednesday morning, winds southerly 5-10, highs near 57. More rain is expected Wednesday night with yet another system, lows near 44.
Thursday on through the weekend, the weather gets a little chaotic so the models are a little mixed. It appears there will be a ridge to the east with a trough of low pressure offshore to our west, keeping us under a southwesterly flow that provides a flow for disturbances to ride in and bring rain, off and on mainly along the coast to the Coast Range. We continue to see moderate temperatures with highs 55-60, lows 44-49.
By the way, there is a big event happening on Saturday, December 21st did you know that day is just under 7 hours shorter than it was in June? Known as the Winter Solstice, it is the shortest day of the year for most folks in the Northern Hemisphere.
Welcome to the first day of Winter!
