Chilly week ahead, with rain returning over the weekend.  Grab that Mug, Patron.

 

After a rather pleasant Monday, cool conditions, along with a few showers over western OR on tap the early part of this week.  A bit more moisture over NW WA & ID later tomorrow as a cold front rapidly passes from the NW.  This one has cold air support, so Fraser Gap winds will kick-up by Tue night.  Snow levels will drop fast, but per usual, the moisture will be just about gone.  That said, enough may linger to yield a dusting of The White in the foothills ‘about town’.  Frosty and/or foggy again as the week ends.  Thu morning could be the coldest of the week.

 

By the weekend, another wet system will begin arriving late Saturday, from the north.  Expect rain & showers to dampen the remainder of the coming weekend.  Snow levels will be higher as compared mid-week.  A much more vigorous storm will arrive to start next week.  Windy and moderate rainfall will be the rule from overnight Sunday on through Tue - the Ides of March.  Behind this storm will be a large area of cold air over the eastern Pacific, hence showers later Tue could produce some hail and/or foothill snow.   Jacket chilly.  

 

A secondary, although weak, cold front may drop by for a St Patrick’s Day visit.  Drat.  We were hoping for a lucky break - mild & dry.  That still remains possible for western OR.  After a relatively dry night on Thu, Fri the 18th will introduce another extended period of precipitation.   

 

Spring springs forth.  Moderate-to-heavy rain, gusty wind and, at times, feet of snow will be our introduction to Spring 2022.  The Equinox on Sunday March 20th will present wet conditions - which is charting to continue on through the week of Mar 21-25.  While a long way out on the wx timeline, overnight Mon the 21 into Tue may be very windy, esp for western OR.  Don’t be surprised to hear about another ‘atmospheric river’ event that week.  Flooding concerns.

 

Overall, expect chilly wx for another 10 days or so, before a drenching introduction to Spring 2022.  

 

Typical pre-Spring weather on tap.  Keep that morn’n bev hot, as it will be chilly.

 

A cold-core Low, just off the coast of OR, is spinning its way south into CA.  Cool temps will follow, esp for Sacramento Valley (pockets of frost possible).  The PNW will be jacket-chilly this weekend and dry.  

 

The next chance for showers arrives sometime Tue, when a cold Yukon High begins its journey into the lower 48.  This cold air will clip the PNW just a bit by Wed, as the bulk of the cold will move east of the Rockies.  Still, a quick shot of Fraser Outflow should happen by early Wed, so Patrons in NW WA can expect a chilly, windy day mid-week.  (We do not foresee a deep freeze pattern, just cooler than the past several days.)  Also, the moisture associated with the cold front will fall primarily over NW WA on into ID, with a few showers possible from Salem north.  By Wed night, it will dry out again and stay that way until Sat Mar 12.

 

The weekend of Mar 12,13 is trending wet, esp by late Saturday.  A moisture-laden system will expand from Vancouver Is & environs to all of the PNW by Sunday.  Breezy.  Moderate rainfall will continue over central/southern Willamette Valley Monday.  Turning showery on Tue, the 15th over western WA & BC, drying out in western OR.  Looks like we’ll be in between systems for a few days to end that week.  On the latest charts, St Patty’s Day looks mild & dry, esp from Olympia south into northern CA.  However, that may be an outlier for now.  Stay tuned.  North Vancouver Is. will continue under clouds & showers during that same period.

 

Steady rain returns by Sat Mar 19, as a wet storm arrives from the west.  A second system may follow right behind that storm to contribute to a wet March weekend.  Overall, tough time for those waiting to ‘work the ground’ with their tractors, as we don’t see a dry stretch just yet.

 

 

 

And so it ends.  Our long February dry spell has expired.  Plenty of moisture & relatively low elevation snow, along with chilly temperatures, will be the story for the first half of March.  Morn’n Mug ready?

 

The warm & WET flow of air moving over the PNW will continue through mid-week, then conditions will slowly turn notably cooler late week.  High pressure over the Pacific will edge west, along with the upper-level winds shifting to the N-NW by the weekend, will drop temperatures into the chill range.  Snow levels will drop, setting up some rain/snow mixed around 500 - 1,000 ft or so by the early next week.  In the meantime, moderate-to-heavy rain combined with high freezing levels will cause flood concerns.  Heed Nat’l Wx Service statements.  

 

Again, cooler temps will arrive this weekend and be the rule for the following 10 days.  The warmest period for the 1st half of March is now.  The coming weekend (Mar 5,6) will not be dry, but it will also present far less rainfall than the week ahead.  Jacket time again.

 

The week of Mar 7-11 looks mixed, with rain, mountain snow and maybe a dry day thrown in, esp for western WA (Thu the 10th?); some solutions keep it mostly dry after Monday until late Fri.  We’ll see.  All model runs chart another WET blustery system moving in from the NW sometime Fri Mar 11 or early Sat Mar 12.  This storm will be a cold core system, so expect the snow level to drop notably by Sunday Mar 13, esp north of Portland.  While we don’t suggest surface snow, the air mass will be cold, so hail and snow above 500 - 1,000 ft is possible, esp north of Portland on Sunday Mar 13.  We often experience this type of pattern in March, while we await Spring.

 

Mid-March is looking to be wet and blustery at this point.  

 

 

 

 Given the somberness of global events, this will be an outline-type forecast.

 

• Weather will turn warmer for several days, with rain & mountain snow; breezy.  Freezing rain possible in eastern portions of the Gorge.
• On & off rain next week, snow level lowering to below passes late week, turning cooler by Fri.  
• Chilly, possible frost, but mostly dry the 1st weekend of March.
• Chilly showers early the week of Mar 7-11, turning wetter and continuing the cold side for March.  Snow levels teasing the foothills; hail possible.  
• Wet & breezy the weekend of Mar 12,13, slightly warmer.

Overall, the trend is for the next 2 weeks to have more wet days than dry, with temperatures averaging below normal.  La Niña influenced pattern.

 

 

Cold week ahead, so keep that coffee hot.

 

Showers today and on into this evening will slowly diminish by Tue, as a deep Dome of modified-Arctic air mass arrives Tue, settling in across the eastern basins.  WIND will howl out of the Fraser Gap and, to a lesser degree, the Columbia River Gorge, dropping temps west side into the lowest readings thus far in 2022 by Wed morning.  While the moisture source will “run out” over the next day, the air aloft is turning cold enough for possible SNOW at the surface under some of the lingering showers between now and Wed (or at least rain/snow mixed in many locations).  No major accumulations are expected at sea level.  The ground is yet to be cold enough to ‘hold’ snow in place.  The foothills, coast range and, of course, the Cascades will get a decent dose of The White.  Be prepared.

 

Wind sheltered areas are likely to drop to 18-22 degrees Wed morning, a few degrees warmer by Fri.  Daytime highs will be down right cold for a couple of days, esp where the wind howls.  Mittens time.

 

The air mass will slowly warm by the weekend, as warmer Pacific air moves in over the cold.  We do see RAIN returning sometime during the weekend ahead, probably by Sat evening.  Freezing rain may not be an issue (excluding the Gorge), but keep alert, as often the cold air is not moved out fast enough before the precipitation starts.  Next week looks damp overall, with snow levels remaining below the passes, in general.  

 

Early March is trending to be mixed with rain, mountain snow and chilly temperatures.  The weekend of 5,6 has charted as dry in some model runs, wet in others.  We’ll check this out later.