By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
The satellite picture this morning showed the stratus deck got pushed inland but it also showed lots of smoke from the fire in southwestern Oregon getting push northward through the western part of the state into Washington. With the strong westerly flow, the marine layer will be slow to burn back to, or only near the coast today. We can expect the clouds to return again this evening, then the winds will finally ease around sunset, we could see some patchy morning fog develop, the lows near 52.
As mentioned in yesterday’s report, the weather pattern will be slow to change through the weekend. We see the high pressure ridge slowly drifting towards the east into Idaho while a low pressure area meanders in the Gulf of Alaska. This keeps us with the southwesterly flow aloft and a westerly flow at the surface. So, tomorrow looks about the same, becoming partly sunny with the winds becoming westerly 10-15 gusting to 30, the high near 69, the clouds return tomorrow night, the winds ease, the patchy early morning fog possible, lows near 53.
The weekend (Saturday) starts out cloudy with that patchy morning fog then we see a mostly cloudy afternoon, winds becoming westerly 8-12 gusting to 20, the low near 54. By Sunday the low pressure area in the Gulf of Alaska is forecasted to drift towards British Columbia as the ridge to the east drifts into the Rockies. This all gives us a mostly sunny day Sunday, the high still near 68, then another partly cloudy night with that patchy fog chance, lows near 53.
Monday, the low should be moving into British Columbia, north of Vancouver Island, as it drags an associated trough of low pressure toward our coast. This yields a partly sunny day Monday with a high near 69, then some clouds that night along with a slight chance of a light shower Monday night as it approaches the coast, lows near 55.
We see the slight chance of showers still on Tuesday under partly sunny skies, the high near 67, then back to partly cloudy and dry, maybe that patchy morning fog again Tuesday night, lows near 54 then…a mostly sunny day Wednesday, the high up near 68.