First holiday weekend of ’the summer’ begins after 5 today (for our US Patrons).  Weather will be fair after a damp start.  What will the following 10 days bring?  Well, that’s why you should have a Mug ready as you keep reading.

Wet system moving onshore as we write.  Most of the rainfall will be finished before Saturday afternoon, with warmer temps and a rather pleasant holiday weekend remaining - for OR, ID and the eastern basins.  However, please note, another, weaker disturbance is now charting to arrive over the Puget Sound region overnight Saturday, with additional showers & cloudiness into early Sunday morning the 26th.  Memorial Day itself continues to chart as dry & mild.

The short post-holiday work/school week looks to present increasing clouds on Tue, with showers possible - but not many.  Westerly winds really pick up in the Columbia River Gorge.  Go windsurfers!  Wed - Fri next week look dry & mild.  Temps may bump up into the 70s, esp over western OR, as the month of May comes ends.

June will start with a dry & mild-to-warm Saturday, turning cloudy, with a few widely scattered showers, mainly north of Portland on Sunday the 2nd (this system may not verify).  Then, indications are for a round of dry & rather WARM weather for the first week of June.  Westerly onshore breeze will pick-up mid-week, helping to tap down temperatures.  Still dry.  Friday and Saturday, June 7,8 may be a warm, with temps in the upper 80s possible; hotter east side.

Broadly speaking, expect some short-shots of precip at times, with lots of DRY DAYS throughout the next couple of weeks; much warmer late in the period. 

Our wx looks unsettled between now and the start of the holiday weekend.  Here's the latest reveal on the charts. 

Today, the 20th, will be delightful & mild.  Later this evening, a system will move into the PNW from the NW.  Expect rain/showers to expand through western WA into OR before sunrise.  This is a rather wet system, as compared to the previous.  Colder air will arrive behind the steady rain later on Tue, with showers remaining in play through early Wed the 22nd.  Clearing on Wed, setting up another pleasant, although COOL, Thu with sunshine at times.  Unsettled conditions return overnight Thu, for a ‘repeat’ of the pattern early this week.  Rain/showers arrive, north-to-south, for a damp & unseasonably chilly Fri the 24th.  

Memorial Day Weekend:  While the showers will decrease overnight Fri, Sat may have a few lingering showers, esp over the Puget Sound, along with cloudiness.  Still, Sat of the holiday weekend should present as generally dry.  Sunday & Mon are looking just fine, with sunshine and mild temperatures; gentle breezes.

Post-holiday week is trending dry & mild early, turning rather windy in the Columbia Gorge (from the west) later in the week, as an onshore flow increasings.  It may be a bit cloudy over the Puget Sound regions mid-week.  

The first weekend of June is trending dry & mild on Sat, with increasing clouds & chance for showers - mainly over the Puget Sound - on Sunday.

How much precip?  This week - between overnight Mon & Wed afternoon - be ready for about a half inch of rain around the Puget Sound / BC; and less than 1/4”, if that, south of Portland.  Similar amounts are expected in the ‘repeat’ pattern charting for this coming Fri the 24th.

The models have made minor adjustments in the long-range outlook.  We’ll do the same.  Ready?

A cool air mass moving into the NW corner of the PNW will usher in cloudiness and a few showers going through the weekend, primarily north of Chehalis to start, then a secondary ’shot’ pushes farther south over NW OR on Sunday.  Generally speaking, this will be more of a cloud event, with nominal precip.  Cooler, for sure.

The rain/showers we expected to arrive on Mon the 20th will be delayed until Tue.  This front should be a bit stronger than the weekend’s, so expect a wider area of showers, with temps dropping a few degrees cooler, esp on Wed May 22.

The good news is that we may escape any notable precip during the coming U.S. holiday weekend.  Following a mild, partly cloudy Thu & Fri, models indicate dry and slightly warmer wx for the first 3 days weekend in quite some time.  (We will post an update on Memorial Day.)

The rain that was expected during the holiday weekend is now booked to arrive on Tue May 28 and last for several hours.  In fact, it could be on/off wet over most of the PNW from the 28th through mid-day Thu May 30.  Fri the 31st looks partly cloudy, but dry.

Early June is just coming into “view” on the charts that we follow showing indications that the upper-level wind pattern suggests mild temps with the chance for rain early.  Not unusual for June.  

Four consecutive days of damp wx will return.  When?  That’s why you brought a Mug ☕️ and are ready to read on.  

The overall pattern for the rest of May is coming into ‘view’ on the charts.  To keep it simple this morning, we’ll outline the next 14-16 days below.  (For Patrons new to our forecasts, we informally consider mild temps to range from 60 - 74 degrees, warm temps 75 - 85, hot above 85.)

• Today - Fri, May 13-17:  Dry & mild to warm, cooling by Thu with onshore wind increasing.  Partly cloudy around the Puget Sound late week. 
• Coming weekend, May 18,19: Dry & mild.  Increasing cloudiness Sunday night, from the northwest.
• Week of May 20-24: Cloudy & wet through Thu.  Drying on Fri to start the long holiday weekend.
• Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27: Mild-to-warm Sat & Sunday; increasing clouds Sunday afternoon; wet overnight into Monday.  Most of the precip will be over the Puget Sound.  Cooler on Memorial Day.
• Tue - Fri May 28-31: Wet from roughly Chehalis north on Tue, dry elsewhere.  Potential for hot temps late that week to end the month.

May 10 2024

         (Today's forecast discussion is presented below this statement)

NOAA has issued a “Severe G4 Magnetic Solar Storm Watch" for today into the weekend of May 11,12.  This is a rare “Watch”.  It is the first such alert issued by NOAA since 2005 - before we had ‘smart phones’!  

G4’s are the second-strongest forms of geomagnetic storms - these type of solar storms can cause disruptions in communications of all types - satellite, radio, cell towers, electric power grids, GPS navigation, as examples.  “If geomagnetic storms were hurricanes, ‘severe’ would be Category 4,” says SpaceWeather.com.