Rain Delay

Fairly dry week ahead before plenty of rain arrives.  Mug up time.

A moderately weak Low pressure cell west of the northern CA coast will slowly work its way north, off both the OR & WA coasts today & Tue.  The result will be increasing chance for showers for the west side up into BC, mild temps and clearing, from the south, later on Tue the 19th.  Dry conditions return Wed & Thu.  Fog, too.

Late Thu night Dec 21 a system will move in from the NW.  This one will be supported by cold air aloft, so snowfall can be expected in the mountains (finally) and maybe a dusting in the coast range.  Other than a few showers Fri afternoon, the main impact will be chilly temperatures, with snow east of the Cascades.  Christmas Eve continues to trend DRY and chilly, with a brisk east wind.  A good day to put on that Christmas scarf.

🎄Christmas Day 2023:  The heavy-hitting storm pattern mentioned in our last report is being delayed a few days by the models.  Meaning, the early hours of Christmas will be dry, with increasing clouds and rain as the day unwraps.  The much-weaker-than-expected system, will move in from the west, so it is possible for freezing rain or snowflakes to fall in the eastern portions of the Columbia River Gorge Christmas night into Tue Dec 26.  Breezy west side.  The heavier rainfall will be centered on northern CA Tue.  The PNW will miss the early portion of the heavy rain, as the first half of this stormy period focuses on CA.  

Wed Dec 27 should present a very stormy night, with a Low center pressured storm at 978-982 mb moving northeast up along the coast of OR & WA.   Weather models have struggled with locations, depths, and timing of a series of strong storm centers developing along the battle zone of warm & cold air masses over the Pacific.  Let’s just say that there will be a stormy period during the week following Christmas, with WIND, rain, Cascade snow and chilly temperatures after each storm front.  This pattern is likely to remain in play through the last weekend of 2023 and early 2024.  More on this in our next report, Fri Dec 22.

Interesting that December may end up with a 'wet close', just like November.