Rod's Weather Headlines

Portland and Salem metro areas will see cloudy skies Saturday morning, followed by increasing afternoon sunshine.  Winds will be light with highs in the 60s. Sunday will be much warmer.  Clouds will increase and temperatures will warm to 70 degrees.  Showers will become possible by late day and likely overnight.  Most of the rain will see this weekend will likely by Sunday evening into early Monday.  It looks possible, that much of the day Monday will be dry, although I am keeping the chance of showers in the forecast.  All and all - not bad!!

This is our first wet spring since 2005.  Early National Weather Service outlooks calling for a warm and normal to dry spring were WRONG!  Computer models into June are showing signs of a wet pattern continuing into next month.  Here is what is interesting:  2005 was very similar to this year.  A dry winter was followed by a wet spring that lingered through much of June.  August of 2005 saw a couple of heavy shower events and a cool, wet fall began late September and carried through October.  Here is the interesting part, 2005 began dry and then had enough spring and early fall rain to finish the water year above normal!  In fact, 2005 is one of only two water years that have been normal to above over the past 10 years.  Our current water year deficit is about 2.00 inches.  The deficit was over 5.00" at times during the winter months.  I leave you with the increasing odds of wet and cooler than normal weather continuing into much of June.  

Keep your chin up and enjoy the beauty of the great Northwest!

The most confident part of the Memorial Day weekend forecast is a call for warming temperatures across the Salem and Portland metro areas.  Showers look likely Friday and Saturday with cool highs 60-65 degrees.  There is some question as to a rain chance Sunday & Monday.  I am holding out hope for two dry days with highs 65-70 degrees!  Confidence is better for dry weather the first days of June.  An early look shows Tuesday and Wednesday to be in the 70s.  Thursday through Sunday the 6th could be around 80 degrees.  Again, Sunday and Monday are showing hope of dry weather with highs 65-70 degrees.  I will keep you updated.  

The space shuttle Atlantis will be visible Saturday evening at 9:36 in the southwestern sky.  Look up at 11 degrees altitude.  The shuttle will be moving to the southwest and appear as a fast moving star or night aircraft, higher in the sky than usual.  A second sighting will be possible Sunday evening at 9:07.  Once again, look to the southwestern sky.  A bonus will be the planet Venus, which will appear Saturday night above and to the left of the moon.  Venus will appear as the brightest object in the high sky, next to the moon.  

While I have your attention.  Saturday's PDX high in the 70s becomes the first 3-day stretch of 70 degree temperatures for 2010.  The current dry streak of 5 days, is the longest since February and just the third 5 day dry streak since December.  Wow - maybe it does rain a lot here!!

Thursday and Friday will deliver the first back to back 70 degree days since September. Any temperature tomorrow above 73 will become the warmest of the year to date.  No records expected, but the warming temperatures will be welcome.  Most records this time of the year sit between 85 and 95 degrees.  The fact that PDX has only reached 70 or higher three times this year can be considered on the cool side.  Looking at the past 10 years, most spring seasons produced 7-10 seventy degree days by the middle of May.  Last year, we had already had back to back 80 degree days.  Enjoy the warm weather and what should be mostly sunny skies. 

The high of 50 degrees Tuesday in Portland becomes the lowest high temperature on record for May 4th.  The month has had high temperatures reach only 49 degrees on May 1st and the 6th.  The air mass this week is truly as cold as it can possibly be this time of year!  More good news from the Cascades.  Nearly 20" has fallen above 5,000' over the past three days.  Timberline Lodge reports a season snowfall of 505 inches.  The Mt. Hood test site has 52" of snow water equivalency.  The amount is 80% of normal for the end of the season.  A snowpack that was near 60% the end of March has finished at 80%!  Extended forecast outlooks continue to show warmer days the last two weeks of the month.  

April 2010 will come to and Friday night.  The month will see a new record for the number of days with .01" of rainfall or more.  The old record was 23 days back in 1955.  Today, the 29th of April, became the 25th day of measurable rainfall.  We will see possible showers Friday evening, which means the record could go to 26 of 30 days!  Here is the twist, despite the number of wet days, the total rain amount is not that far above normal.  The April average rainfall for PDX is 2.64".  As of today, the 29th the rain total stands at 2.88 inches.  The wettest April on record is 7.88" back in 1883.  The wettest at the PDX location is 5.26" back in 1993.  The wettest month overall is  December 1996 with 13.35".  

The latest forecast outlook for temperature calls for cool weather the first 10 days of May, followed by above normal temperatures the last two weeks of the month.  Temperatures are expected to average above normal for the combined months of May and June.  We'll see??

The forecast  is calling for a stretch of days with highs in the 50s this week.  In case you are wondering, chilly afternoon highs in the 50s are in the PDX record book all the way into June 26th!  We are getting into the time of year you would expect to see 70 degree temperatures a little more often.  70 degree highs become the Portland climate average May 27th.  Starting tomorrow, April 25th, the record high for each day is 80 degrees or warmer.  Remember the last average freeze for the entire metro areas of Salem and Portland is May 1st.  Most areas have likely seen their last 32 degree morning until next fall. 

April to date averages close to normal temperature wise.  Temperature outlooks for May & June call for our area to be warmer than average.  Could be a hot summer, we'll see?

Manual snowpack measurements are taken on Mt. Hood through the end of April. With no big snowstorms in sight, it looks like the Cascade snow season is coming to an end.  Skibowl resort closed for the season Sunday with the resorts traditional food drive day.  Here is where the Mt. Hood snowpack stands:  Timberline is reporting a season snowfall of 465 inches.  165" has fallen since March 1st!  The test site at an elevation near 5,300' is reporting a snowpack near 75% of average.  Not bad, considering February closed at 65% of average and there was fear of dropping into the 50% range.  The site is reporting near 40" of snow water equivalency.  65" is normal for the winter season.  Snow depth near 5,000' is 120 inches.  So, all and all we end the season on a positive note, thanks to a late season push of heavy snow.  Be sure and check the resort links on the mountain page for operation schedules into the month of May.  

Several areas of strong thunderstorms developed Saturday.  The afternoon Clark county storms produced radar estimates of .50" hail near Battle Ground and 40 mph wind gusts.  The strongest storms near Pendleton caused 70 mph wind gusts and hail the size of quarters!  At one point, the storms were producing 200 lightning strikes each 20 minutes.  Rainfall reports included .50" in 20 minutes!   These storms weakened late evening as they pushed north across eastern Washington.  A trough line of low pressure was the trigger for the storm development.  All of the Northwest will likely be dry Sunday with temperatures mostly near 70 degrees.  The Portland metro area is due for a few 70 degree days.  Most daily records this time of year are near 80 degrees. The normal daily high is 61 degrees.