By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Friday, November 25, 2022
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the dry Thanksgiving Day weather, today the ridge of high pressure that gave us the dry day was flattened out and was pushed eastward by an approaching upper level trough of low pressure that gave us some light rain and drizzle this morning, then the associated front moved in and gave us more, mainly light rain. Tonight, the rain eases as another ridge moves across, we slowly become partly cloudy, the winds die off, and the low drops to near 37.
Tomorrow starts out dry but mostly cloudy, light southwesterly winds, highs near 50, then the chance of rain increases again tomorrow evening as another stronger front approaches with rain likely later tomorrow night, winds becoming southwesterly 5-10, lows near 41.
Sunday a cold trough of low pressure drops towards the area, and we see more rain along with breezy westerly winds 10-15 gusting to 25, the high around 51. The front and trough push thru later Sunday night before midnight, then we transition to scattered showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms, the snow level drops to near 2200’, lows down near 36.
The thunderstorm threat ends later Monday morning then the rain chance returns with the next cold system that pushes the snow level down to the summit levels (1500’), the highs only near 46. Monday night gets a little more interesting as we still have a chance of rain, but the snow level will continue to fall, with the temperature dropping to around 32 by early Tuesday morning. This would mean the Coast Range Passes will be seeing accumulating snow in the early morning hours with snow flurries or a rain/snow mix possible at the low levels.
After that, Tuesday looks rainy with the snow level climbing after sunrise to around 1800’, the high near 47 then rainy and breezy Tuesday night, the snow level up around 3000’.
Wednesday things get interesting again with another cold system moving in, so more rain, still breezy, the snow level drops to around 1200’, the high near 46. Wednesday night continues to be breezy, and the lows drop to around 31 so low level snow is again possible in the morning hours with accumulating snow possible above 500’.
The snow level remains rather low Thursday, the shower activity becomes more scattered under partly sunny skies, the high only up to near 43, so we continue to see lower snow levels in the passes.
The bottom line, travelers need to closely monitor road conditions next week, BEFORE heading out, as the snow levels will be very low at times, causing increased winter weather and travels concerns throughout Tillamook County, on its roads and highways, and potentially through the valley. By the end of this, the Cascades will be reporting some impressive numbers also, already expecting 12-24” from Saturday thru Monday with more to follow next week, and with the strong winds, travels across the Cascade Passes will be treacherous at times.