By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Another chilly morning Tillamook with your morning low temperature dropping down to near 25 degrees. The good news is…things should start warming back up after today to something you are more used to. The reason is that there is a warmer Pacific Front, and its associated low pressure area, moving up towards the area today. Fortunately, areas west of the Coast Range will warm up enough today, before the precipitation moves in, that they will see all rain, while areas inland across the Coast Range Passes will still be below freezing and will have yet another round of freezing rain that persists into the early morning hours tomorrow. This includes nearly all the valley.
So, the official forecast is for a cloudy day today with the rain pushing up into the area from the southwest this afternoon by around 2pm. The winds today becoming southeasterly 8-12, the afternoon high near 45. More rain expected tonight, the winds increasing to southeasterly 10-15 gusting to near 30, the low drops a couple degrees after the sun goes down, then warmer air starts to move in and the temperature starts to slowly rise again overnight, reaching 47 by sunrise. As far as the passes, they should also be improving in the early morning hours with the temperature finally climbing to above freezing at the summit a little before sunrise tomorrow.
After 4 days of very cold and icy weather, tomorrow returns to something more, “normal” for our area. The temperatures are all above freezing, the snow level is up over 5000’, and the coast is windy! We can expect more rain tomorrow with southwesterly winds 18-24 gusting to 30, the high up near 52, then rainy with breezy southerly winds 10-15 gusting to near 20 tomorrow night, the low only near 42. You will still need to be alert for icy conditions in the early morning hours across the summits as the nighttime temperatures in the Coast Range could still drop to near freezing.
Early Thursday we see another system approaching the coast from the west so we can expect another rainy day from the departing warm front, winds becoming easterly 8-12, the high near 51, still rainy with breezy southeasterly winds 14-18 gusting to near 25 overnight Thursday, the low near 40.
Friday the associated cold front still lingers offshore, so the rainy conditions persist, highs near 51, lows near 42. As for the weekend, it looks like another low pressure area will move up from the southwest into the British Columbia area, and this will finally drag the cold front, that had been stationary off the coast, though which brings us more rain with breezy winds Saturday and Sunday, highs near 53, lows near 45.