By Gordon McCraw, Tillamook County Emergency Manager
Friday, September 17, 2021, 9:45 am
Weather
Today is a day of change as far as the weather is concerned. We have the first decent storm of the season approaching, already bringing rain into southwest Washington. This is associated with a warm front that will push into the area during the day today, bringing some gust winds this afternoon, becoming southerly 10-15 gusting to 25, 35-40 at the beaches. High temperatures today, under the clouds, rainy, afternoon skies, near 67.
Tonight, the associated cold front pushes in and brings more rain that could be briefly heavy as the front itself moves across late tonight into early tomorrow morning. The winds still southerly and gusty, especially with the front, lows near 52. It does look like this will move through relatively quickly so rainfall totals thru tonight should be in the 1-3” range with the higher amounts in the Coast Range.
The front will push through early tomorrow morning then we transition over to showers. These could be occasionally strong with brief periods of heavy rain, maybe even a thunderstorm or two that could produce some small hail and gusty stronger winds. Winds tomorrow southerly still, 10-15 gusting to 25, highs near 63. The showers, with possible thunderstorms, continue tomorrow night, lows near 49. Rainfall totals for tomorrow look to be from just under an inch to near an inch and a half.
We have a trough of low pressure moving across Sunday that enhances the shower activity again, so we see more showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning hours then we transition back to steady rain in the afternoon. Winds Sunday becoming westerly 5-10 gusting to 20, the highs only near 61. Sunday night the rain starts to ease as high pressure starts to build in so with fewer clouds, the cooler temperatures, and the abundant moisture, patchy early morning fog is possible, the morning lows near 47. It appears we could add up to another inch of rain to the weekend totals Sunday.
Monday looks mostly sunny after the morning fog clears, highs near 66, mostly clear skies that night, lows near 48. Tuesday starts out sunny and warmer, the high near 71, but then some clouds start pushing back in that night with a chance of rain under mostly cloudy to cloudy skies Wednesday into Thursday, highs in the mid 60s, lows in the upper 40s.
So, the rainfall totals over the weekend are expected to be around 2-3 inches with a few spots possibly getting up to 4”. Fortunately, the rivers are at very low levels right now, and the soils are very dry so the ground will also be absorbing a lot of the rain, which will knock down the fire dangers also.
ODOT: Area 1 Construction Update
U.S. 26: Hayward Rd. – NW Mountaindale Rd. Sec
Project Description: This is a roadway surface preservation project from MP 47.60 to MP 53.00, which will remove the surface of the asphalt and replace it with a new wearing surface. Side roads and approaches will also be repaved. Bridge decks will be removed and replaced with Waterproofing Membrane and asphalt. Striping will be replaced and “Rumble Strips” will be installed at various places throughout the project.
Traffic Impacts: One Traffic Lane may be closed on Sunset Highway (US 26) Nightly, Sunday night through Friday morning between 7:00 PM and 7:00 AM. Adjacent Roadways within the Project Site may have lane closures during daytime and nighttime hours with breaks for morning and evening commuter traffic. During the paving operation of the Entrance and Exit ramps of US26 and OR47 detours will be installed. Paving is anticipated to begin on September 27th, 2021, but may change based on Contractor availability and weather. Expect delays.
Project Website: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=…
U.S. 30: Millard & Bennett Roads (St. Helens) Section
Project Description: This project will improve the safety of U.S. 30 by adding a traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 30 and Millard Road, restricting left turns onto U.S. 30 from Bennett Road, increasing the turn radius for the right turn at U.S. 30 and Bennett Road, updating rail crossings at both Millard and Bennett Roads, and updating other intersection infrastructure for pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicular traffic.
Traffic Impacts: Expect delays and lane closures. Traffic on U.S. 30 will not be detoured. The intersections of U.S. 30 and Millard Road and/or U.S. 30 and Bennett Road will be impacted at various times during construction.
Project Website: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=…
U.S. 26: Necanicum Jct. – Nehalem River Bridge Section
Project Description: This is a roadway surface preservation project which will remove the surface of the asphalt and replace it with a new wearing surface. Side roads and approaches will also be repaved. In addition, new guardrail and signs will be installed throughout the project corridor. ADA ramps will also be installed at the end of bridge pedestrian facilities. Striping will be replaced and “Rumble Strips” will be installed at various places throughout the project.
Traffic Impacts: Most of the work in two lane segments impacting travel lanes will be done at night with single-lane closures between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. In the four lane sections, work may occur during either daytime or nighttime hours while maintaining one travel lane in each direction. Paving will continue through September, 2021, Expect delays.
Project Website: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=…
U.S. 101: Columbia River (Astoria-Megler) Bridge Project
Project Description: This 3 year project is designed to perform pressure washing and maintenance coating on plate girder spans, deck truss spans, and through truss rocker bents and bearings. This Project includes rivet replacements. Additionally, sealant will be replaced at the existing expansion joints.
Traffic Impacts: Staged Temporary Pedestrian Traffic Routes (TPAR) underneath the bridge near the Maritime Memorial Park and Holiday Inn will be installed during the bridge maintenance work. The Contractor is performing work on Structure Numbers 07949E and 07949C (Just North of the Astoria Steel Through-Truss Section), a single lane closure during daytime hours Monday through Thursday from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Friday from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm is allowed. The Project will begin with daytime lane closures in September, 2021, Expect delays.
When the Contractor is performing work on Structure Number 07949F (Just South of the Astoria Steel Through-Truss Section), a single lane closure during nighttime hours Sunday night through Friday morning from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am are allowed. Nighttime lane closures are anticipated to occur later on in the project.
Project Website: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=…