Dry Period Ahead

 

It will be a few days from now, but the PNW will get into a dry period starting this Halloween weekend.  In the meantime, our Big Storm continues to spin into the history books.  Refill that Mug and read on.

 

The big storm yesterday remains in play, west of WA,   It will continue to move N-NW towards the northern tip of Vancouver Island.  WINDS will diminish slowly, with plenty of steady rain, intense showers / possible thunderstorms (esp western WA) as bands of moisture spin around the powerful Low pressure center - now weakened to around 962-964 mb, which is still very deep for a PNW system this close to land.  Our big storm has already cost lives, damaged property & coastline areas and cut power to thousands.  The large impact zone is from BC to CA (which continues to get hammered).  Northern Calif got super-drenched by the storm (3-11 inches of rain; flood & mudslide issues common); the heavy rain band now slowly moves farther south in the Golden State.  

 

PNW - expect rain & showers to continue through Tue, with WED likely to be the drier day until the weekend.  More steady rain on the way for overnight Wed into Fri.  Not a strong system, but a long band of rain, supported by subtropical moisture, may flow over the PNW.  It could impact OR more than WA, although models solutions are mixed.  

The coming weekend is trending DRY and cooler, with a brisk N-NE wind picking-up as High pressure drops down from Canada, east of the Rockies, clipping the eastern portions of the PNW.  Speaking of dry, we are seeing an extended dry period from the spooky weekend on through Sat Nov 7.  

 

California will be the wet zone - after it dries out this week, more rain is modeled with a cut-off Low spinning significant moisture into southern CA by Nov 4; some solutions hold this system far enough off the CA coast to keep it dry a few extra days, but still wet by Nov 6.

 

For the PNW, the long-range outlook is mixed for the weekend of Nov 6,7.  It could be turning WET & cold, with snow levels dropping well below mountain passes, or remain dry until Tue Nov 8.  We’ll see.

 

Bottom line: after this week, the PNW should enter a dry period lasting a week or longer.  After plenty of rain, that rain break will be appreciated.