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By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
So, this morning the radar and satellite picture shows a long trough of low pressure still off the coast that has spun up a couple of low pressure area west of Oregon. The larger of the two is pumping moisture into northern California, who has already seen the lions share of rain over the past 7 days, especially in southern California but now it looks like it is northern California’s turn. These lows are getting pushed southward in the flow. As far as here locally, there is some patchy wrap-around light rain in the area.
We will continue to have some occasional periods of light rain today as more disturbances pop up and affect the area. It looks like the snow level will be around 2500’ today, and I just looked at Tripcheck and the temperatures on Hwy 6 are above freezing still early this morning. We don’t see much change in the weather pattern tonight so still a chance of seeing another weak disturbance bringing a period of light rain overnight with variable winds, the low near 38, the snow level still around 2500.’
Not much changes tomorrow so we are still looking at about a 50/50 shot of seeing more spotty light rain or drizzle, the winds westerly 4-8 and the high near 49 with the snow level around 2200’ by sunup tomorrow. Tomorrow night more rain is likely as that trough gets pushed eastward, we still see some light winds, the low only down to near 40.
We see a rainy morning still Friday, then the rain starts to ease and becomes more patchy in the afternoon as the trough continues to move east, the winds becoming southerly 4-8, highs near 49. There is only a slight chance of rain still Friday night as a ridge of high pressure builds near the coast, light winds, the low near 41.
Unfortunately, the models show the ridge weakening over the weekend and that would allow more disturbances to ride in on the flow, bring back the periods of light rain through the weekend, and as the pattern changes little, this chance of rain extends into the start of next week. The afternoon highs remain in the mid 50s and the overnight lows in the low 40s for the period also.
Now, for our boaters and beach combers. The rivers are all low and continuing to slowly fall but we are coming into a period of King Tides that peaks on the 11th, and 12th. Add to this the fact that the weather offshore has impacted the seas and we are seeing 9-12’ seas that are pushing in the swells that are increasing the tide levels today, and adding about a 1’ anomaly to the tide levels. This means that we will be seeing an increasing risk of tidal overflow flooding in all the usual places in Nehalem, west Tillamook, and Pacific City during the higher tide times from around 10am through 2pm each day. This may eventually close some roads as these levels increase daily through the weekend. Also, with the increased seas and the higher tides, the beach hazards increase with less beach to walk on plus the increased threat of sneaker waves, so please, please be extra alert and follow all the normal beach hazard safety rules!