Monday April 22 - Earth Day 

• The first Earth Day was ‘declared’ on this day in 1970.  Spawned by the oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast and pollution from heavy industry around the world, the call for elevating awareness of negative environmental impacts by careless management of Earth’s air, water and land was the focus of Earth Day.  Agreed, there are extreme points of view / approaches per this topic, but globally, folks of all persuasions & occupations began working together to make vast improvements in protecting key aspects of Earth’s environment.  Your host, living in the Pierpont beach community of Ventura CA at that time, clearly recalls oil globs stuck on surfboards and feet (sea animals, too) following the 1969 California oil spill.  Finally, Oregon's Willamette River got cleaned up, as did many other bodies of water, including Lake Erie; so did the excessively smoggy Los Angeles basin.  Enough already.

Excellent Spring wx to start this week, before the PNW will return to cool, damp conditions for a few days.  Afternoon temps are likely to top the upper 60s to mid-70s at some point between now and Wed.  A cold front will begin to move into the region later on Wed, so expect clouds to increase, temps to drop and at least a quarter of an inch of rain by late Fri.  

Partly cloudy, with temps a few degrees warmer this Sat, before the next round of precip begins to move onshore, north-to-south, on Sunday.  It does, indeed, look damp over most of OR, WA, BC (both west & east sides) Mon & Tue next week week.  Idaho, too.  Calif should remain dry.  By Wed, conditions will slowly improve ushering in 3-4 day stretch of dry, mild weather to get the month of May started.  

Saturday May 4 is currently trending very nice!  Temperatures rebounding into the 70s for nearly everyone, north or south, as a large Low moves south off the coast towards California.  Said Low will also spin a warm ‘rain band’ into OR & WA sometime This type of pattern often produces warm afternoons, with humidity a bit higher than usual.  Sunday - Cinco de Mayo - should present increasing clouds with a chance for rain or showers, although temps will remain warm.  

For the week of May 6 - 10, model projections bring in plenty of rain, with an elevated chance for thunderstorms moving from south-to-north, as the Low mentioned above pushes into CA, spinning moisture across much of the Golden State, along with the PNW (both sides of the Cascades).   We project drier, mild weather to begin on Thu May 9, lasting into the following weekend.  For now.

Pleasant Spring afternoons ahead, along with cool showers in between.  Refill time.

Warmest day of the week today in many locations, with a comfortable breeze.  A quick moving cold front will clip the NW corner of the PNW, ushering in clouds and showers & strong westerly winds up the Columbia Gorge late Sat through early Sunday.  Most of the showers should be north of Longview.  By Sunday afternoon, the sky should begin to clear, setting up a pleasant start to the new week around the PNW.

Monday & Tue, Apr 22 & 23 will be pleasantly warmer & dry.  Wed will bring a return to cool, damp weather late day through Thu.  This cold front will bring in more moisture than Saturday’s system, and over a larger area.  However, sunshine and somewhat warmer temps will return to end the week, and start the weekend of Apr 27,28.  By Sat night, another shot of cold air (for late April) arrives to usher in a chilly, damp Sunday.

The final days of April (Mon & Tue) will be rather cool, but generally dry.  The first 5 days of May are trending dry and notably warmer.  In fact, if models verify, temps around the PNW could rebound into the mid-to-upper 70s Thu & Fri May 4,5.  It may turn damp in CA at the same time.

As you can tell, a “Bits of Both” weather pattern is charting for the next couple of weeks.  Meaning, pleasantly mild weather along with cool, damp weather scattered in between.  Quite the norm for this time of year.  

Not the most optimistic day on the calendar, and a Monday, too?  Nonetheless, life is worthwhile with a good Mug in hand.  

The tag line this morning really does describe the overall wx pattern for the next couple of weeks.  Nearly all of the threats for showers will take place over the far NW corner of the great PNW.  The rest of the region should remain dry, with periods of cool temps & warm temps to mix things up.  As of this morning, the next 'broad impact' rain storm will arrive after Friday Apr 26.  Let’s run down the details.

Today through Wed Apr 17, a cold front will clip the Puget Sound area.  Temps will cool considerably as compared to the past couple of days.  A Puget Sound shower or two is possible (rain/snow over Montana).  For the rest of us, some cloudiness and cool temps.  FROST may hit Wed morning, if the sky clears in your location, esp north of Portland and into the eastern basins.  The brisk WEST wind in the Columbia Gorge will switch over a notable EAST wind later in the week.  As the weekend nears, expect warmer temperatures in OR, with a NE wind clearing the clouds away.  Lots of sunshine.

The coming weekend is trending dry & mild.  Temps are not looking quite as warm as previous forecasts predicted; still a decent weekend overall in OR; another cold front will clip the Puget Sound area, so don’t expect Spring type weather in that zone.  Clearing for all the PNW late Sunday, setting up a pleasant start to the week of Apr 22-26.

Earth Day - Apr 22 - looks dry, but not as warm as expected.  60s probable; upper 50s around the Puget Sound.  Wed Apr 24 should be the warmest day that week.  Another “corner clipper” cold front, this time with a fair amount of moisture, will hit the Puget Sound again on Thu Apr 25; mild and dry in OR.  Fri looks dry, mild for all.

The weekend of Apr 27,28 is trending as damp, cool and cloudy.  The first Spring storm in quite some time arrives on Mon Apr 29, setting up a wet week to end April and start the month of May.  Let’s see how this all pans out.  

Well, our previous forecast sure was wrong for western WA the past few days; let’s hope the models and the interpreter do better this time.  At least the morn’n coffee is hot.

A Low off the southern coast of OR is slowly moving south, wrapping moisture northward, so expect some precip over OR today, and chance for a few thunderstorms from Eugene south on into Saturday.  NW WA & BC will catch the break from rain; California will not.  It will be warmer, too, around the PNW given that southerly flow aloft.  Sunday looks dry & mild.

Next week will present another COLD Low moving down the BC coast, so expect showers & CHILLY temps later Mon & Tue.  Snow level could drop to 2,000 ft.  Clearing by Wed morning, with a risk for FROST, should the sky clear in your area.  An east wind will pick-up mid-week, esp through the Columbia River Gorge.  Late week, temps will warm quickly (Spring again!), with increasing cloudiness by Sat and the chance for a warm stray shower here & there.  Overall, though, next weekend is trending quite MILD & mostly dry.

“Earth Day” - Mon Apr 22 - is looking warm, with temps in the 70s in many locations; as is Tue the 23rd.  However, the whole pattern shifts again back to cold & wet on Wed Apr 24.  Showers & cool Thu.  Friday that week is trending warmer with clearing.  The last weekend of April may be cool & damp (same for CA).

Overall, classic April wx appears on tap for the balance of the month - a few warm afternoons, with plenty of sunshine, mixed in with a few damp, cool afternoons.

'Blocked sunlight' day, in many locations east of the Rockies.  For the PNW, improving wx conditions will be the story.  Mug time.

A cool, wet system will skirt much of western WA & BC today and early Tue, while the rest of the PNW will remain dry, with a few clouds.  Warmer, dry conditions are on tap for the week, with sunshine up & down the west coast by mid-week.  Temperatures will be pleasant - in the upper 60s to low 70s probable.  

By the coming weekend, a system will skirt southwest of the PNW coast, ushering in a few clouds (moving up from the south) on Saturday Apr 13.  Rain from this storm will impact northern CA, with an increasing chance for showers and/or thunderstorms moving north into OR & WA overnight Sat into early Sunday.  It will clear off later on Sunday the 14th.

The week of Apr 15-19 is trending COOLER, with a cold front moving down the BC coast Monday.  Current charting indicates a chilly shower period for Mon & Tue, Apr 15,16, with clearing from the north by Wed.  Cool temps over WA on Wed; a bit warmer for OR & ID.  Dry conditions remain on the charts for the balance of the week, with temps rebounding into the 60s & 70s to end the week.

Weekend of Apr 20,21 is looking dry and mild.  Some cloudiness over NW WA, but no rain is foreseen at this time.

After that pleasant weekend, indications are for a wet, cool week to follow (Apr 22-26).