By Gordon McCraw
Tuesday, April 5, 2022, 10:15am
An active system came thru yesterday giving us lots of rain and winds and even a few strong thunderstorms. The system gave some areas 2-3” of rain, and some strong winds that included wind gusts of 64 in Seaside, 52 in Astoria, 50 in Manzanita, 43 in Cape Meares, 41 in Pacific City and 40 in Tillamook. All the rain did push the rivers up a couple of feet also, but they all stayed well below Action Stage. The system also brought in cooler air and the low this morning is 37 with some east winds making the windchill around 33, the snow level is down around 2000’. The radar shows some widely scattered showers moving southeastward towards the coast so there is a chance of showers today, mainly in the morning hours, otherwise we see a partly sunny day with winds becoming northwesterly 8-12 gusting to 20, the high near 53.
Advisory: Frost Advisory until 08:00AM Wednesday
* WHAT…Low temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees will result in frost formation.
* WHERE…In Oregon, North Oregon Coast, Lower Columbia, Greater Portland Metro Area, Central Willamette Valley and South Willamette Valley. In Washington, South Washington Coast, I- 5 Corridor in Cowlitz County and Greater Vancouver Area.
* WHEN…From 11 PM this evening to 8 AM PDT Wednesday.
* IMPACTS…Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered.
* AFFECTED AREAS: NORTH OREGON COAST … LOWER COLUMBIA … GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA … CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY … SOUTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY … SOUTH WASHINGTON COAST … LOWER COLUMBIA AND I – 5 CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY … GREATER VANCOUVER AREA
Instructions: Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold.
High pressure builds in tonight bringing mostly clear skies and as the winds die down for a period, patchy fog and frost are possible. As the ridge continues to build, we will see the winds becoming easterly 5-10, and with radiational cooling, the low drops to near 32 by the early morning hours.
The ridge of high pressure moves eastward tomorrow bringing mostly sunny skies, the east winds becoming more westerly in the afternoon 5-10, the high climbs up to near 64. Partly cloudy skies tomorrow night and again the winds die off in the evening but become easterly after midnight 5-10, and the low drops to 42.
The ridge continues to shift east of the area Thursday and with the abundant sunshine with the mostly sunny skies, the high climbs up to around 69. The winds do start out easterly 5-10 but then shift to westerly in the afternoon. Thursday night an upper level trough moving towards the area will increase the clouds and starts to give us a chance of showers into Friday. This also pushes the temperature down to the low 50s for highs, as well as starts pushing the snow level down. So, Saturday the trough becomes pretty much stationary and other minor disturbance ride the flow and gives us more scattered showers across the area and the snow level drops to near 1500’ in the afternoon and continues to move downward, bottoming out at around 1000’ after midnight Saturday with the low dropping to near 36. Remember, the top of the passes is just over 1500’ so if you plan to cross them this weekend, looks at Tripcheck.com before you go so you have an idea of the conditions.
Sunday, we continue to see scattered showers, but the snow level starts to climb back up to near 1500’, the afternoon high near 50 with the snow level now above 2000’. The low Sunday night near 35 but the shower activity will be widely scattered by then and the snow level will remain above the pass levels. We still see a chance of showers on Monday.
