By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Well, welcome to the first day of the Winter Solstice, officially happening at 7:27pm (our time) this evening. So, today will also be the shortest day of the year here, with only about 8 hours and 50 minutes or so between sunup and sundown today. This also means that after today, the days get longer and the nights get shorter! The next big thing is…today is the first day of Winter!
As far as weather, there were areas of dense fog with the Tillamook Airport getting socked in just after the sun went down, then staying socked in until just after 8:30 this morning. Today we had more clouds push in ahead of a fast moving cold front, now tonight we see even more clouds and the winds becoming southerly 5-10, lows near 45.
The rain moves in before sunrise tomorrow, in the early morning hours, and persists into the early afternoon hours when it transitions to showers, the winds will increase to westerly 10-15 gusting to 20, the high near 48. We keep the diminishing chance of showers until around midnight, we could see some patchy fog after that, the winds now northwesterly 4-8, low drop to near 36, and the snow level plunges to near 2500’.
Saturday a ridge of high pressure moves in and brings partly sunny and dry skies after any fog clears, light easterly winds, the high near 49, more clouds move in again Saturday night from yet another approaching front, the snow level drops to near 1500’ which should not be a factor for the Coast Range though there is a slight chance of rain a little before sunrise Sunday, the low dips to near 35.
Christmas Eve things turn quite active. We have a zonal flow setting up with a strong jet stream to rapidly push in a series of systems, giving us rain and breezy, to windy conditions, especially at the coast. The positive news is, these will be warmer systems so the snow level will be climbing above the Coast Range levels Sunday. I can say the models are mixed with various timing and strengths on the systems, but it is safe to say, Christmas Eve will be wet with highs near 49, and lows near 40. Christmas Day looks rainy and breezy, highs up to near 55 and lows up near 47. Tuesday will be rainy still with another system, still breezy, highs near 57, lows near 47, then Wednesday looks the same, only with even more wind. Hopefully we can nail down more specifics tomorrow.
What all this means is, if you have travel plans over the holiday, especially though the Gorge, the Hood River area, or over the Cascades, you had better keep a close eye on the weather and road conditions. As for the coast and Coast Range, the increasing winds could present some issues if they get strong enough to cause some trees or tree debris to fall on the roads and highways. It may, or may not, be interesting! Remember www.tripcheck.com
Listen to Gordon’s regional weather forecast here: