By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Not a bad weekend, we had some clouds Saturday, but Sunday was quite nice with temperatures in the 60s along the coast, and in the low 80s inland. This is after some pretty warm days last week and alas, here comes some more, though maybe not as warm as they were before with temperatures today in the low to mid 70s here, and in the 90s again over in the valley. With the weather dominated by another ridge of high pressure moving across the area, it looks like the marine layer will move in tonight bringing cloudy skies with some patchy early morning fog, with calm winds, the low near 57.
Tomorrow also looks mostly sunny and warm after the clouds and fog burn off mid-morning, with afternoon highs climbing to around 76, then some westerly winds 4-8, though there is a slight chance of seeing some gusty afternoon winds. Then we see some partly cloudy skies with maybe some patchy early morning fog, the winds slowly easing, lows near 54.
The ridge is drifting eastward Wednesday, so though we see some mostly sunny skies, with the onshore flow the afternoon high temperature is not much above 70. Look for partly cloudy skies Wednesday night, the lows near 50.
By Thursday, we have an upper level trough of low pressure moving towards the area that will bring increasing clouds, and some cooler temperatures with the afternoon high only around 64. For now, we have some issues with the timing and strength of the trough, but it looks like Thursday night we will have some rain moving in, the overnight low near 52.
Friday also looks cloudy and rainy with the rain chance continuing into Saturday under mostly cloudy skies, with maybe some showers lingering into Sunday, highs near 61, lows near 50.
For the skywatchers, this week we have a rare planetary event as we are headed into another full moon. If you look to the west just after sunset on Wednesday the 24th, you could see Mercury and Jupiter grouped close together, though Mercury will be faint, so you will want to use some binoculars and use Jupiter as a reference point. After that, we have a Strawberry Moon occurring on Monday the 29th. This full moon will be the farthest from earth this time, making it appear smaller than average. And yep, it’s called the Strawberry Moon because it’s that time of year.
