By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Well, the satellite picture tells the tale today. The predominate upper level feature, clearly visible in the satellite picture is a large upper level low pressure area that is setting up residence in the Gulf of Alaska. It looks like it will just sit there for much of the week. It also shows clear skies here across much of Oregon, thanks to a high pressure ridge that is building across the western half of the state. This led to clear skies across the coast today with warming temperatures. We may still see some patchy early morning fog, otherwise we can expect another mostly clear night, with calm winds, the low near 51.
The ridge builds more tomorrow and brings sunny skies again, with northwesterly afternoon winds 8-12, the high peaking at 71. We will likely see the marine layer push in again tomorrow night, with light winds, the low down near 53.
We see another nice day on Wednesday with mostly sunny skies, the afternoon winds northwesterly 8-12 again, the highs still a nice 69 degrees, then with increasing clouds Wednesday night with the light winds, the low only drops to around 55 degrees.
On Thursday we have that upper level low pressure area continuing to spin up in the Gulf of Alaska, while the ridge axis here shifts to the east a little, which gives us a more southwesterly flow in the upper levels. Down here at the surface, the marine layer burns back leaving mostly sunny skies in the afternoon, winds still northwesterly 8-12, the high near 68, then increasing clouds again that night, lows near 54.
The low in the Gulf of Alaska starts to drift northward Friday, then as it weakens over the weekend any influence it may have had in our area decreases, so we continue to see the typical summer like weather at the coast, the marine layer moves in at night with lows in the low 50s, then the clouds burn back leaving a mostly sunny afternoons with the usual afternoon westerly winds, the highs in the upper 60s.
If anyone is headed over towards the Cascades this weekend, there is some moisture expected to push up from California that, when it combines with a weak disturbance likely imbedded in that flow, could generate some thunderstorms up over that area. In addition to the lightning dangers, there is always a threat of these causing additional wildfires, so stay alert and keep an eye out for any Watches or Warnings resulting from these conditions.