From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 1 09:02:25 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:02:25 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 1st, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 5:00pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 12:00pm until 5:00pm. Straw stack burning is allowed from 12:00pm until 5:00pm. Weather Discussion: Satellite imagery showed clouds, from a weak warm front, spreading across western Washington and most of western Oregon. Light rain fell at times this morning across western Washington and along the northern Oregon coast. Some sunbreaks were visible in the Willamette Valley, especially from Salem south. Skies were mostly clear on the south coast and over southwestern Oregon. Clouds will increase, from north to south, across western Oregon today, as a weak cold front slowly drops southeastward into the region. There is also an increasing chance of light rain...mainly from Salem north. High temperatures will be a few degrees warmer than on Wednesday but still well below normal. Surface Winds: SSE 5-10 this morning, SSW 5-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: S 10 this morning, SW 10 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3500 feet. Ventilation index 35. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 66. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 54%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:52pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:12am. Extended Outlook: Another quite strong and cool upper-level trough is forecast to drop into the Pacific Northwest this weekend. Showers will likely increase across Washington and northern Oregon Friday...spreading south across the remainder of Oregon, Friday night and Saturday. Snow levels will drop below the Cascade passes Saturday...to as low as 3000 feet. The upper-level trough is forecast shift east of the Cascades Sunday. The threat of showers should end, across western Oregon, by Sunday evening, with a drier, but continued cool, north-northeasterly flow aloft developing Monday. An upper-level ridge is forecast to slowly build into the coastline next week, with dry and progressively warmer early-autumn weather. Tomorrow (02 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Increasing Chance of Showers From North to South. 47/63 Sat (03 Oct): Showers Likely. Slight Chance of T-Storms. Snow Level 3-4000 Feet. 43/59 Sun (04 Oct): Mostly Cloudy and Cool. Decreasing Chance of Showers. 41/63 Mon (05 Oct): Patchy AM Fog or Low Clouds...Mostly Sunny in the Afternoon. 39/67 Tue (06 Oct): Patchy AM Fog....Sunny and Warmer. 42/73 Wed (07 Oct): Patchy AM Fog...Sunny and Warm. 43/75 Thu (08 Oct): Patchy AM Fog...Sunny and Warm. 44/78 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 1 12:11:46 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:11:46 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 1st, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. ...Next Update Scheduled for Monday, October 5th, at 9:00am... NOON UPDATE Issued: Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 12:00pm. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 5:00pm. Propane flaming is allowed from now until 5:00pm. Straw stack burning is allowed from now until 5:00pm. Weather Discussion: A weak warm front was pushing onto the Washington Coast late this morning. Satellite imagery showed cloudy skies covering most of western Washington and extreme northwestern Oregon. Spotty light rain was falling mainly over northern sections of western Washington. No rain was being reported over Oregon, although some possible sprinkles were showing up on Doppler radar near the north coast. Astoria picked up .03 inches of rain between 5am and 11am with .01 inches falling as far south and east as Scappoose. Mainly just middle and high clouds extended as far south and east as the Willamette Valley, with considerable filtered sunshine. Skies were mostly sunny along the central and south coast as well as over southwestern Oregon. Midday temperatures had warmed into the upper 50s and low 60s across western Oregon. Winds were from the SSE at less than 10 mph. The air mass is still cold, for early October. The freezing level, early this morning, over Salem was just 6700 feet. However, some warming aloft and filtered sunshine this afternoon should combine to lift Willamette Valley temperatures into the mid 60s. That is still about 5 degrees below average but a good half-dozen degrees warmer than Wednesday afternoon. A weak cold front is forecast to push across western Washington this evening and southeastward across the Willamette Valley overnight. Clouds will be on the increase along the a chance of light rain. Total rainfall amounts, from the cold front, are forecast to be very light...ranging from little or nothing to around one-tenth of an inch. Surface Winds: SSE 5-10 mph...becoming SSW 5-10 late this afternoon. Transport Winds: SW 10 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3500 feet. Ventilation index 35. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 66. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 48%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:52pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:12am. Extended Outlook: In the wake of the weak cold front, forecast to move southeastward across the Willamette Valley early Friday, another quite strong and cool upper-level trough will drop into the Pacific Northwest. Showers will likely increase across Washington and northern Oregon Friday, with scattered showers over all of Oregon Saturday. Snow levels will drop to as low as 3000 feet Saturday, with minor snow accumulations over the Cascade passes possible. The upper-level trough is forecast shift east of the Cascades Sunday, with the showers tapering off across western Oregon. The trough will progress eastward, into Idaho, Monday, with a drier, but continued cool, north-northeasterly flow aloft developing. An upper-level ridge is forecast to slowly build into the coastline next week, with dry and progressively warmer early-autumn weather. Tomorrow (02 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Increasing Chance of Showers From North to South. 47/63 Sat (03 Oct): Showers Likely. Slight Chance of T-Storms. Snow Level 3-4000 Feet. 43/59 Sun (04 Oct): Mostly Cloudy and Cool. Decreasing Chance of Showers. 41/63 Mon (05 Oct): Patchy AM Fog or Low Clouds...Mostly Sunny in the Afternoon. 39/67 Tue (06 Oct): Patchy AM Fog....Sunny and Warmer. 42/73 Wed (07 Oct): Patchy AM Fog...Sunny and Warm. 43/75 Thu (08 Oct): Patchy AM Fog...Sunny and Warm. 44/78 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Mon Oct 5 08:52:08 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:52:08 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Monday, October 5th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 9:00am until 5:00pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 1:00pm until 5:00pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: The strong upper-level trough that brought showery and cool weather the Oregon over the weekend had shifted east, to over Idaho, this morning. Satellite imagery showed mostly cloudy skies over southeastern Oregon, where a few showers were still indicated by Doppler radar. Clearing skies over the remainder of the state allowed temperatures to drop well into to the 30s with some areas of the Willamette Valley flirting with the freezing mark. McMinnville dropped to 32 degrees this morning, and Hillsboro dipped down to 34. Corvallis and Eugene both dropped to 36 degrees, and Salem hit 38. As is typical for October, low-level cooling and light winds overnight led to formation of fairly extensive fog and low clouds across the Willamette Valley this morning. Visibilities were locally reduced to around one-quarter of a mile. The mid-morning ODA surface analysis showed high pressure extending from western Washington southward across western Oregon with very weak pressure gradients and light soth-southeasterly winds across the Willamette Valley. Low pressure over Idaho was maintaining brisk north-northwesterly winds across much of central and eastern Oregon...keeping fog from forming. A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure, over the eastern Pacific Ocean, will slowly build inland today, with a drying northeasterly flow aloft over Oregon. The morning fog and low clouds, blanketing most of the Willamette Valley, should give way to plenty of sunshine this afternoon, as the low-level flow backs from southeasterly to north-northeasterly. The air mass is still chilly, with the freezing level over Salem measured at just 6800 feet this morning, so highs today will likely only manage to climb into the mid 60s (about 5 degrees below average). Surface Winds: SSE 3-8 this morning, N 5-12 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SE 5 this morning, NE 8 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 24. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 66. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 40%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:45pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:17am. Extended Outlook: A dry and cool northeasterly flow aloft will allow Willamette Valley temperatures to cool into the 30s again Tuesday morning with local pockets of frost possible. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build slightly more into the coastline Tuesday. After areas of morning fog, mostly sunny skies should warm temperatuers close to normal. A weather system moving over the top of the ridge will drop southward, into Montana, on Wednesday...keeping the upper-level ridge from building over Oregon. That will maintain a dry and cool north-northeasterly flow aloft. Overnight minimums will likely moderate a few degrees, but afternoon highs will still struggle to hit 70 degrees...even with plenty of sunshine. The flow aloft is forecast to turn north-northwesterly, over Oregon, Thursday and Friday, as a reinforcing surge of cool Canadian air brings some early autumn snow to the northern Rockies. The air aloft will stay cool enough to keep Willamette Valley temperatures slightly below normal, even with plenty of afternoon sunshine. By Saturday, the upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast, with warmer air aloft and increasingly offshore surface winds combining to warm valley temperatures into the 70s (slightly above normal). The ridge is forecast to shift east, to over Idaho, Sunday, with increasing westerly flow aloft introducing some Pacific moisture back into Oregon. A weak cold front could bring some light rain to the north coast by Sunday afternoon, with increasing clouds and onshore flow cooling Willamette Valley temperatures back into the 60s. A more potent system is forecast to bring widespread rain onshore next Monday. Tue (06 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Chilly in the Morning. Sunny and a Touch Warmer. 36/68 Wed (07 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Sunny. 40/68 Thu (08 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. A Few High Clouds in the Afternoon. 41/68 Fri (09 Oct): Mostly Sunny. 39/68 Sat (10 Oct): Sunny. 41/71 Sun (11 Oct): Increasing Clouds. 43/68 Mon (12 Oct): Rain Likely. 44/64 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Oct 6 09:02:12 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:02:12 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 1:00pm until 5:00pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 1:00pm until 5:00pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure is building into the coastline with a dry north-northeasterly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. At the surface, a thermal trough is building northward, along the southern Oregon Coast, with a broad area of high pressure covering most of eastern Washington and eastern Oregon. Light offshore flow dried out the low-level air mass across wesetern Oregon Monday afternoon and night. Mostly clear skies allowed temperatures to drop into the low 30s across sections of the Willamette Valley by early this morning. Eugene hit the freezing mark and McMinnville dipped to 33. Hillsboro dropped down to at least 34 degrees and Salem fell to at least 37. With a drier air mass in place, valley fog is not nearly as extensive this morning across western Oregon. Visible satellite imagery was showing some areas of fog, mainly in the southern Willamette Valley and in the valleys of southwestern Oregon. Skies were mostly clear over the remainder of Oregon and virtually all of Washington...including along the coast. The Salem sounding this morning showed considerable warming aloft, with the frezing level jumping from 6800 feet Monday morning to 11,900 feet this morning. Warmer air aloft will combine with more sunshine to lift afternoon temperatures into the 65-70 degree range across the Willamette Valley. Winds will be light north-northeasterly this afternoon. A weak weather disturbance will slight southeastward, across southern British Columbia, tonight and into northern Idaho and Montana Wednesday. That is forecast to turn the surface pressure gradients onshore...likely bringing some low clouds, and possible drizzle, onto the north coast. Some low clouds should also make their way into mainly the northern Willamette Valley by Wednesday morning. That should keep temperatures slightly warmer tonight in the north valley, but low to mid 30s are possible again tonight in the drier south valley. Surface Winds: Var 0-7 this morning, NNE 5-12 this afternoon. Transport Winds: NNE 5 this morning, NNE 7 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2700 feet. Ventilation index 19. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 68. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 1pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 39%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:43pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:18am. Extended Outlook: Cold weather systems are forecast to bring early-autumn snows to Montana Wednesday through Saturday, while Washington and Oregon stay under the influence of a dry and cool northerly flow aloft. There will be areas of morning low clouds and fog but plenty of afternoon sunshine. Highs will struggle to reach near-normal with continued chilly mornings. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast by late this weekend, with warmer air aloft and light offshore surface winds combining to possibly warm valley temperatures into the ow 70s Sunday and Monday. The ridge is forecast to break down and shift east next week, with increasing westerly flow aloft opening the door for a series of Pacific storms to move onshore with widespread rains. Tomorrow (07 Oct): Areas of AM Low Clouds or Fog. Mostly Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/66 Thu (08 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. A Few High Clouds in the Afternoon. 40/68 Fri (09 Oct): Mostly Sunny. 39/68 Sat (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. 38/69 Sun (11 Oct): Patchy AM Fog...Sunny and Mild in the Afternoon. 39/71 Mon (12 Oct): Increasing Clouds Late. 43/70 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. 47/63 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Oct 7 09:04:09 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:04:09 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 1:00pm until 4:30pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 1:00pm until 5:00pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure was still over the eastern Pacific Ocean this morning with a cool and dry northerly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. A cold weather system was sliding down the eastern flank of the ridge and bringing a early-season snowstorm to western Montana. That dropped the surface pressure enough across eastern Washington to induce onshore flow into northwestern Oregon. Mid-morning satellite imagery showed low clouds along the Washington Coast and locally into the interior of western Washington. Low clouds extended southward along the northern and central Oregon Coast and had pushed inland into mainly the northern Willamette Valley. Low clouds were beginning to also penetrate into the south valley, with mostly clear skies over southwestern, central and eastern Oregon. Low clouds made for warmer temperatures this morning in the north valley, with most minimums staying in the 40s. McMinnville managed to dip to 38 degrees. It was another chilly morning in the south valley, where mostly clear skies allowed temperatures to locally drop to near the freezing mark. Eugene dipped down to at least 34 degrees, before some fog and low clouds began to form. The onshore flow is not very strong this morning, so low clouds and fog should give way to mostly sunny skies over the Willamette Valley this afternoon. However, high temperatures should be a few degrees cooler today, after reaching near 70 degrees Tuesday afternoon. Winds will be light this morning and become northerly this afternoon. Mostly clear skies tonight should allow valley temperatures to drop back into the upper 30s and low 40s by Thursday morning. Surface Winds: SE 0-7 this morning, N 5-12 this afternoon. Transport Winds: NNE 10 this morning, N 10 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3300 feet. Ventilation index 33. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 66. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 45%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:41pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:19am. Extended Outlook: Cold weather systems are forecast to continue to bring early-autumn snows to Montana through Saturday, while Washington and Oregon stay under the influence of a dry and cool northerly flow aloft. There will be areas of morning low clouds and fog but plenty of afternoon sunshine. Highs will struggle to reach near-normal with continued chilly mornings. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast by late this weekend, with warmer air aloft and light offshore surface winds combining to possibly warm valley temperatures into the low 70s Sunday. The ridge is forecast to break down and shift east early next week, with increasing westerly flow aloft opening the door for a series of Pacific storms to bring widespread rains onshore. Tomorrow (08 Oct): Areas of AM Fog or Low Clouds. Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/68 Fri (09 Oct): Morning Clouds. Becoming Mostly Sunny. 42/65 Sat (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow Developing. 39/67 Sun (11 Oct): Mostly Sunny. 38/71 Mon (12 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Increasing Chance of Rain. 43/65 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. South Winds. 47/62 Wed (14 Oct): Rain Likely. 48/62 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 8 09:06:08 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:06:08 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 8th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 12:00pm until 4:30pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 12:00pm until 5:00pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure remains over the eastern Pacific Ocean with a cool north-northwesterly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. Satellite imagery showed considerable high clouds streaming southward over both states. Light winds and fair skies allowed temperatures to drop into the 30s across much of the Willamette Valley. McMinnville dipped to 35 degrees. Hillsboro and Eugene both dropped to 38. The overnight cooling led to areas of fog this morning along the coast and in the Willamette Valley. Visibilities dropped to as low as one-eighth of a mile in the west-Eugene area. Daytime heating should evaporate the areas of fog by midday with filtered afternoon sunshine. The Salem sounding continued to show rather warm air aloft, with the freezing level at 12,000 feet. Afternoon temperatures should be able to recover into the mid to upper 60s, depending on how quickly the fog burns off. The ODA surface analysis showed a very weak thermal trough along the coastline with little to not pressure gradient across the Willamette Valley. Another cold weather system is forecast to slide down the eastern flank of the ridge and into Montana late today. That is forecast to drop surface pressures enough across eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon to turn the low-level flow onshore across western Oregon late this afternoon and this evening. The weak marnine push should bring low clouds back onto the coastline overnight with possible areas of light drizzle. Low clouds should also make their way into the Willamette Valley by Friday morning...helping to keep overnight temperatures in the 40s. There is a slight chance of light drizzle in the Portland area Friday morning. As the cold weather system continues southward into the northern Rockies Friday, colderlow-level Canadian air will begin pouring into eastern Washington. That will raise surface pressures east of teh Cascades and cut off the onshore flow into western Oregon. Drying northerly winds will help to break up the marine low clouds Friday afternoon, with temperatures recovering into the mid 60s. Surface Winds: N 0-7 this morning, NW 5-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: N 7 this morning, NW 7 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 21. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 68. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 44%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:39pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:21am. Extended Outlook: Cold air is forecast to continue to pour into Montana and eastern Washington Saturday, which will generate a cold easterly outflow from the Columbia Gorge, into the Willamette Valley. That will help clear skies but keep temperatures below normal. Overnight temperatures will be especially chilly by Sunday morning, with frost likely in many locations. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast by Sunday, with warmer air aloft but continued cool low-level offshore flow. The ridge is forecast to break down and shift east early next week, with increasing westerly flow aloft opening the door for a series of Pacific storms to bring widespread rains onshore. Tomorrow (09 Oct): Morning Clouds. Becoming Partly Sunny. 42/65 Sat (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow Developing. 36/65 Sun (11 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow. 30/65 Mon (12 Oct): Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain Late. Strong Offshore Flow. 40/63 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. Southeast Winds. 46/61 Wed (14 Oct): Showers Likely. 48/62 Thu (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. 47/64 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 8 09:26:42 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:26:42 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 8th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 12:00pm until 4:30pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 12:00pm until 5:00pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure remains over the eastern Pacific Ocean with a cool north-northwesterly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. Satellite imagery showed considerable high clouds streaming southward over both states. Light winds and fair skies allowed temperatures to drop into the 30s across much of the Willamette Valley. McMinnville dipped to 35 degrees. Hillsboro and Eugene both dropped to 38. The overnight cooling led to areas of fog this morning along the coast and in the Willamette Valley. Visibilities dropped to as low as one-eighth of a mile in the west-Eugene area. Daytime heating should evaporate the areas of fog by midday with filtered afternoon sunshine. The Salem sounding continued to show rather warm air aloft, with the freezing level at 12,000 feet. Afternoon temperatures should be able to recover into the mid to upper 60s, depending on how quickly the fog burns off. The ODA surface analysis showed a very weak thermal trough along the coastline with little to not pressure gradient across the Willamette Valley. Another cold weather system is forecast to slide down the eastern flank of the ridge and into Montana late today. That is forecast to drop surface pressures enough across eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon to turn the low-level flow onshore across western Oregon late this afternoon and this evening. The weak marnine push should bring low clouds back onto the coastline overnight with possible areas of light drizzle. Low clouds should also make their way into the Willamette Valley by Friday morning...helping to keep overnight temperatures in the 40s. There is a slight chance of light drizzle in the Portland area Friday morning. As the cold weather system continues southward into the northern Rockies Friday, colderlow-level Canadian air will begin pouring into eastern Washington. That will raise surface pressures east of teh Cascades and cut off the onshore flow into western Oregon. Drying northerly winds will help to break up the marine low clouds Friday afternoon, with temperatures recovering into the mid 60s. Surface Winds: N 0-7 this morning, NW 5-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: N 7 this morning, NW 7 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 21. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 68. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 44%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:39pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:21am. Extended Outlook: Cold air is forecast to continue to pour into Montana and eastern Washington Saturday, which will generate a cold easterly outflow from the Columbia Gorge, into the Willamette Valley. That will help clear skies but keep temperatures below normal. Overnight temperatures will be especially chilly by Sunday morning, with frost likely in many locations. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast by Sunday, with warmer air aloft but continued cool low-level offshore flow. The ridge is forecast to break down and shift east early next week, with increasing westerly flow aloft opening the door for a series of Pacific storms to bring widespread rains onshore. Tomorrow (09 Oct): Morning Clouds. Becoming Partly Sunny. 42/65 Sat (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow Developing. 36/65 Sun (11 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow. 30/65 Mon (12 Oct): Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain Late. Strong Offshore Flow. 40/63 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. Southeast Winds. 46/61 Wed (14 Oct): Showers Likely. 48/62 Thu (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. 47/64 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 8 10:07:41 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:07:41 -0700 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Willamette Valley Ag Weather Forecast Message-ID: Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 12:00pm until 4:30pm. Propane flaming is allowed from 12:00pm until 5:00pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure remains over the eastern Pacific Ocean with a cool north-northwesterly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. Satellite imagery showed considerable high clouds streaming southward over both states. Light winds and fair skies allowed temperatures to drop into the 30s across much of the Willamette Valley. McMinnville dipped to 35 degrees. Hillsboro and Eugene both dropped to 38. The overnight cooling led to areas of fog this morning along the coast and in the Willamette Valley. Visibilities dropped to as low as one-eighth of a mile in the west-Eugene area. Daytime heating should evaporate the areas of fog by midday with filtered afternoon sunshine. The Salem sounding continued to show rather warm air aloft, with the freezing level at 12,000 feet. Afternoon temperatures should be able to recover into the mid to upper 60s, depending on how quickly the fog burns off. The ODA surface analysis showed a very weak thermal trough along the coastline with little to not pressure gradient across the Willamette Valley. Another cold weather system is forecast to slide down the eastern flank of the ridge and into Montana late today. That is forecast to drop surface pressures enough across eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon to turn the low-level flow onshore across western Oregon late this afternoon and this evening. The weak marnine push should bring low clouds back onto the coastline overnight with possible areas of light drizzle. Low clouds should also make their way into the Willamette Valley by Friday morning...helping to keep overnight temperatures in the 40s. There is a slight chance of light drizzle in the Portland area Friday morning. As the cold weather system continues southward into the northern Rockies Friday, colderlow-level Canadian air will begin pouring into eastern Washington. That will raise surface pressures east of teh Cascades and cut off the onshore flow into western Oregon. Drying northerly winds will help to break up the marine low clouds Friday afternoon, with temperatures recovering into the mid 60s. Surface Winds: N 0-7 this morning, NW 5-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: N 7 this morning, NW 7 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 21. High Temperature: Salem's high temperature today will be near 68. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 44%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:39pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:21am. Extended Outlook: Cold air is forecast to continue to pour into Montana and eastern Washington Saturday, which will generate a cold easterly outflow from the Columbia Gorge, into the Willamette Valley. That will help clear skies but keep temperatures below normal. Overnight temperatures will be especially chilly by Sunday morning, with frost likely in many locations. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast by Sunday, with warmer air aloft but continued cool low-level offshore flow. The ridge is forecast to break down and shift east early next week, with increasing westerly flow aloft opening the door for a series of Pacific storms to bring widespread rains onshore. Fri (09 Oct): Morning Clouds. Becoming Partly Sunny. 42/65 Sat (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow Developing. 36/65 Sun (11 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow. 30/65 Mon (12 Oct): Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain Late. Strong Offshore Flow. 40/63 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. Southeast Winds. 46/61 Wed (14 Oct): Showers Likely. 48/62 Thu (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. 47/64 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Fri Oct 9 09:04:19 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:04:19 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Friday, October 9th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 12:00pm until 4:30pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure remains over the eastern Pacific Ocean with a cool north-northwesterly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. Satellite imagery shows high clouds, assoicated with the northerly jet stream, diving south across much of Washington and northeastern Oregon, with the main storm energy well east of the region. Skies were mostly clear across the remainder of Oregon, except for areas of fog and marine low clouds along the coast and in the western valleys. The ODA surface analysis showed high pressure over western Oregon with weak pressure gradients. Fair skies and light winds allowed temperatures to drop into the 30s and low 40s across the Willamette overnight, with Corvallis and Eugene dropping into the mid 30s. The Salem sounding continued to show warm air aloft, with the freezing level at 11,000 feet. However, cold weather systems are continuing to slide down the eastern flank of the ridge and into Montana. As the cold weather systems continue southward, into the northern Rockies, colder low-level Canadian air will begin pouring into eastern Washington this afternoon. That will raise surface pressures east of the Cascades and cut off the onshore flow into western Oregon. Drying northerly winds will help to break up the patchy fog and low clouds this afternoon with temperatures recovering into the mid and possibly upper 60s. Surface Winds: N 0-5 this morning, N 4-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: NW 5 this morning, N 7 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 21. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 67. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 45%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:37pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:22am. Extended Outlook: Cold air is forecast to continue to pour into Montana and eastern Washington Saturday, which will generate a cold easterly outflow from the Columbia Gorge, into the Willamette Valley. That will help clear skies but keep temperatures below normal. Overnight temperatures will be especially chilly by Sunday morning, with frost likely in wind-sheltered areas. The upper-level ridge is forecast to build more directly over the west coast by Sunday, with warmer air aloft but continued cool low-level offshore flow. The ridge is forecast to be undercut by a strong westerly flow aloft next week...opening the door for a series of Pacific storms to bring widespread rains onshore. An upper-level ridge may bring some drying late in the week. Tomorrow (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow Developing. 36/65 Sun (11 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Offshore Flow. 30/65 Mon (12 Oct): Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain Late. Strong Offshore Flow. 40/63 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. Southeast Winds. 46/61 Wed (14 Oct): Showers Likely. 48/62 Thu (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. 47/64 Fri (16 Oct): Partly Sunny. 46/65 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Fri Oct 9 12:16:00 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:16:00 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Friday, October 9th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. NOON UPDATE Issued: Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 12:00pm. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure remains over the eastern Pacific Ocean with a cool north-northwesterly flow aloft over Washington and Oregon. Satellite imagery showed a 150-mile-wide band of clouds extending from central Washington through extreme northeastern Oregon, in association with an Arctic cold front dropping south from Canada. There was no precipitation being reported from that frontal system, but on the north side of it, brisk north-northeasterly winds were ushering unseasonably cold and dry air into eastern Washington. Spokane was only in the upper 30s at midday with northeasterly winds gusting to nearly 25 mph...burrrrrr. The dry Canadian air was also making it into Bellingham, near the Canadian border, in western Washington, where northeasterly winds were also gusting to nearly 25 mph, although temperatures were significantly warmer than east of the Cascades (mid 50s). Meanwhile, the areas of low clouds and fog along the coast and Willamette Valley had just about cleared by midday, with some persistent pockets of clouds near the Columbia River. The ODA surface analysis showed weak northerly pressure gradients beginning to increase over southwestern Oregon with light gradients still across the Willamette Valley. Fair skies and light winds allowed temperatures to drop into the 30s across much of the Willamette Valley this morning. Eugene and McMinnville both dipped to 34 degrees. Cold and dry low-level Canadian air will continue pouring into eastern Washington this afternoon. That will raise surface pressures east of the Cascades and increase the northerly gradients across western Oregon. Drying northerly winds will help to break up the patchy fog and low clouds near th Columbia River this afternoon with temperatures recovering into the mid and upper 60s across the Willamette Valley. Drier air will continue to pour into the valley overnight, which will make for cold minimum temperatures Saturday morning...locally near freezing in frost-prone areas. Surface Winds: N 4-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: N 7 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 21. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 67. Humidities: Relative humidity drops to 50% by 2pm. Minimum relative humidity will be near 45%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:37pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:22am. Extended Outlook: Cold air is forecast to continue to move southward, across northern Oregon, Saturday, which will generate a cold easterly outflow from the Columbia Gorge, into the Willamette Valley. That will help keep skies clear but temperatures will be well below normal. Overnight temperatures will be especially chilly by Sunday and Monday mornings, with frost likely in wind-sheltered areas. The upper-level ridge is forecast to be undercut by a strong westerly flow aloft next week...opening the door for a series of wet Pacific storms to come onshore...mainly into southern Oregon and northern California. An upper-level ridge may bring some drying late in the week. Tomorrow (10 Oct): Mostly Sunny. Increasing Offshore Flow. 34/65 Sun (11 Oct): Sunny. Cold and Dry Offshore Flow. 30/61 Mon (12 Oct): Increasing High Clouds. Strong Offshore Flow. 30/61 Tue (13 Oct): Rain Likely. Brisk Southeast Winds. 37/59 Wed (14 Oct): Showers Likely. 48/62 Thu (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. 47/64 Fri (16 Oct): AM Fog. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 46/65 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Mon Oct 12 09:14:12 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:14:12 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Monday, October 12th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 1:00pm until 4:30pm. Propane flaming is not allowed. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: Unseasonably cold and dry air poured southward into eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon, over the weekend, in reponse to a strong northerly jet stream. Numerous record low temperatures were tied or broken across that region on Saturday...including record shattering minimums of 8 degrees in Pullman, Washington and 10 degrees in Omak, Washington (the old records were 20 and 24 degrees respectively). Spokane, Washington also crushed their low temperature record Saturday with a minimum of 19 degrees (the old record was 24 degrees). On Sunday, Spokane not only broke their record low temperature for the date, with 20 degrees, they also tied their coldest maximum for the date, with a high of only 40 degrees. In northeastern Oregon, Pendleton shattered their daily low temperature record Saturday with 19 degrees (the old record was 25 degrees). Redmond also blew away their old daily record low of 23 degrees Saturday, with a minimum of 15 degrees. Enough cold air also poured into northwestern Washington for Olympia to tie their daily record low Sunday of 28 degrees. Drier air continued to southward, into the Willamette Valley Sunday, leading to some chilly temperatures this morning with areas of frost. Corvallis dropped down to at least 30 degrees this morning and Eugene hit 31. Salem dropped to 35 degrees. Easterly outflow, from the Columbia Gorge, kept the air stirred up enough in the extreme north valley to keep most areas above freezing, even though dew-point temperatures locally in the teens. Satellite imagery showed high and mid-level clouds covering much of Washington and Oregon this morning, with the weather pattern undergoing a transition from the dry and cool northerly flow, of the past week, to a wet westerly flow. The ODA surface analysis showed cold high pressure persisting over eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon with very dry offshore flow extending to the coast. Mid-morning temperatures were only in the 20s and low 30s east of the Cascades with 30s to low 40s across the interior valleys of western Oregon. Even the coast was only in the mid 40s. Offshore winds were generally less than 10 mph west of the Cascades, except for gusts to around 20 mph near the western end of the Columbia Gorge. Today will be the last day of the week-long dry spell across western Oregon, with middle and high clouds filtering the autumn sunshine. The increase in cloud-cover will likely reduce high temperatures a degree or two from Sunday, but it will still be a pleasant day. An increasing westerly flow aloft will open the door for a series of Pacific storms to bring the first real soaking rains of this autumn season to western Oregon, beginning tomorrow. Rain will likely move onshore tonight and spread across all of western Oregon Tuesday, along with blustery winds. Coastal regions will likely pick up between one-half and one inch of rain Tuesday, with the greatest totals in the south. The western valleys will generally received from one-quarter to one-half inch of rain Tuesday...also with the greater amounts to the south. With increasing cloud-cover, temperatures should stay well above freezing tonight across western Oregon. However, daytime highs Tuesday will be cooler (in the 50s), with rain replacing the partly sunny skies of today. Surface Winds: Var 0-6 this morning, Var 4-8 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SSE 3 this morning, SSE 4 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2500 feet. Ventilation index 10. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 61. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 26%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:32pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:26am. Extended Outlook: Westerly flow aloft will bring rain to western Oregon Tuesday and Wednesday with a transitory ridge bringing some drying on Thursday. Another weather system may bring more rain onshore as early as Friday afternoon. The wet weather pattern appears as if it will last into next week. Tomorrow (13 Oct): Rain. A Bit Blustery at Times. Quite Cool. 38/56 Wed (14 Oct): Rain. 47/60 Thu (15 Oct): Moslty Cloudy. Chance of Showers. 48/63 Fri (16 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Rain Late. 48/68 Sat (17 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 48/64 Sun (18 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Increasing Rain Late. 46/63 Mon (19 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 47/62 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Oct 13 09:21:27 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:21:27 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Propane flaming is not allowed. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A major change in the weather pattern is taking place. The northerly flow aloft that has brought cold and dry weather to the region for the past week has been replaced with a moist south-southwesterly flow aloft. The first in a series of Pacific storms spread rain onto the Oregon Coast shortly after midnight and into the southern and central Willamette Valley during the pre-dawn hours this morning. The bulk of the moisture from this system is being directed into northern California, but Doppler radar showed light rain had spread northward to about Olympia, Washington and eastward, across north-central Oregon, into south-central Washington. Low-level cold air remains trapped over eastern Washington and the northern half of central and eastern Oregon, where temperatures are near or below freezing at mid-morning. The approaching storm system dropped the surface pressures offshore, forcing cold and dry low-level air, from east of the Cascades, westward across western Oregon. Easterly winds, from the Columbia Gorge, were gusting to to around 40 mph in the Portland area, with north-northeasterly winds funneling the cold and dry air southward across the Willamette Valley. Temperatures west of the Cascades stayed in the 40s overnight, due to the increase in cloud-cover, but were still dropping at mid-morning due to evaporative cooling from the rain falling through the very dry low-level air. Increasing south-southwestery flow aloft will continue to bring rain at times to western Oregon today with northeasterly surface winds slowly turning southeasterly later today. Willamette Valley temperatures should not drop below about 40 degrees this morning, before slowly warming into the mid to upper 50s this afternoon (about 10 degrees below normal). The low-level air is cold enough this morning for precipitation to fall as freezing rain from north-central Oregon to the Pendleton area. Temperatures will warm above freezing east of the Cascades this afternoon, and precipitation will turn to all rain below about 5000 feet. Surface Winds: NNE 5-10 this morning, ENE 5-12 this afternoon. Transport Winds: NE 8 this morning, ESE 12 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2300 feet. Ventilation index 28. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 56. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 62%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:30pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:27am. Extended Outlook: Westerly flow aloft will swing another weather system, and more rain, onshore across western Oregon Wednesday. That should scour-out any remaining low-level cold air east of the Cascades...significantly moderating temperatures. The snow level should hover around 7000 feet in the Cascades. A warm front will likely bring some light rain to mainly northwestern Oregon Thursday, with the snow level lifting above 8000 feet in the Cascades. A transitory ridge will bring brief drying late Thursday and Friday, with another system forecast to swing onshore Friday evening. Southwesterly flow aloft will direct the bulk of the rain from that system into southern British Columbia and western Washington. A few showers could linger into Sunday with yet another weather system forecast to come onshore Sunday night and Monday. Timing of weather systems that far out is next to impossible, but the latest guidance shows a possible break on Tuesday, with anther strom moving onshore next Wednesday. Tomorrow (14 Oct): Rain. A Little Warmer. Wind: S 5-15 mph. 47/60 Thu (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Rain North. 51/65 Fri (16 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Rain Late. 50/68 Sat (17 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 49/63 Sun (18 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. Increasing Rain Late. 49/62 Mon (19 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 47/62 Tue (20 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. 46/63 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Oct 14 09:38:28 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:38:28 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. ...There will be no noon update today... Issued: Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from 11:00am until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: A strong low-pressure center was moving north, about 150 miles off the northern Washington Coast, at mid-morning. An associated frontal system brought dumped from one-quarter to about one-half inch of rain across the Willamette Valley overnight and was moving into central Oregon at mid-morning. Strong southerly pressure gradients were bringing brisk southerly winds to most of western Oregon. The strongest winds were along the coast and in the coastal range. South winds gusted to 60 mph along the central Oregon Coast earlier this morning, in the Newport area, with gusts in excess of 40 mph extending northward to Astoria. Mt Hebo, in the north coast range, recorded gusts to 68 mph. Winds were still gusting to between 40 and 50 mph from the coast to the coast range at mid-morning. Southerly winds were not as strong in the Willamette Valley this morning, but gusts between 20 and 30 mph were common. The southerly winds were helping scour the cold air from the Willamette Valley, with mid morning temperatures generally as warm as Tuesday\'s highs (mid 50s). Easterly outflow, from the Columbia Gorge, is keeping the immediate Portland area in the upper 40s and low 50s. Satellite imagery and Doppler Radar showed the main rain-bands moving well east of the valley and into central Oregon, where temperatures finally have warmed above freezing. After getting freezing rain, off and on during the day Tuesday, Redmond finally picked up a southerly wind this morning, around 5am, and their temperature jumped from near freezing into the mid 40s, with plain old rain. The southerly winds and bands of rain will progress eastward across Oregon today, along with moderating temperatures. A strong onshore flow will continue to circulate clouds and showers inland across western Oregon today, along with some sunbreaks. After hitting highs only in the mid 50s Tuesday, warming southerly winds will help Willamette Valley temperatures climb into the low 60s this afternoon. Amazingly, snow fell in the Columbia Gorge Tuesday...possibly the earliest snowfall on record for some locations. Who knows what that means for this winter, but October, 2009 has seen some rare weather events. Surface Winds: S 10-20 G30 this morning, SSW 7-15 G25 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SSW 30 this morning, SSW 30 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 90. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 61. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 60%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:28pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:28am. Extended Outlook: A warm front will likely bring some light rain to mainly northwestern Oregon Thursday, with the snow level lifting above 8000 feet in the Cascades. A transitory ridge will bring brief drying and warming late Thursday and Friday. A cold front is forecast to swing onshore Friday evening. Southwesterly flow aloft will direct the bulk of the rain from that system into southern British Columbia and Western Washington, but the entire Willamette Valley should pick up at least some rain. A few showers could linger into Sunday with yet another weather system forecast to come onshore Sunday night and Monday. It appears as if a transitory ridge may bring some drying and warming next Tuesday and Wednesday. Tomorrow (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Light Rain Likely North...Chance of Rain South. 51/65 Fri (16 Oct): Mostly Cloudy but Warmer. Chance of Rain Late. 50/70 Sat (17 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 53/63 Sun (18 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. Increasing Rain Late. 47/62 Mon (19 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 49/60 Tue (20 Oct): Areas of AM Fog...Becoming Partly Sunny. 45/66 Wed (21 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny. Increasing Clouds Late. 44/66 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Oct 14 09:59:39 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:59:39 -0700 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Willamette Valley Ag Weather Forecast Message-ID: Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. ...There will be no noon update today... Issued: Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from 11:00am until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: A strong low-pressure center was moving north, about 150 miles off the northern Washington Coast, at mid-morning. An associated frontal system brought dumped from one-quarter to about one-half inch of rain across the Willamette Valley overnight and was moving into central Oregon at mid-morning. Strong southerly pressure gradients were bringing brisk southerly winds to most of western Oregon. The strongest winds were along the coast and in the coastal range. South winds gusted to 60 mph along the central Oregon Coast earlier this morning, in the Newport area, with gusts in excess of 40 mph extending northward to Astoria. Mt Hebo, in the north coast range, recorded gusts to 68 mph. Winds were still gusting to between 40 and 50 mph from the coast to the coast range at mid-morning. Southerly winds were not as strong in the Willamette Valley this morning, but gusts between 20 and 30 mph were common. The southerly winds were helping scour the cold air from the Willamette Valley, with mid morning temperatures generally as warm as Tuesday's highs (mid 50s). Easterly outflow, from the Columbia Gorge, is keeping the immediate Portland area in the upper 40s and low 50s. Satellite imagery and Doppler Radar showed the main rain-bands moving well east of the valley and into central Oregon, where temperatures finally have warmed above freezing. After getting freezing rain, off and on during the day Tuesday, Redmond finally picked up a southerly wind this morning, around 5am, and their temperature jumped from near freezing into the mid 40s, with plain old rain. The southerly winds and bands of rain will progress eastward across Oregon today, along with moderating temperatures. A strong onshore flow will continue to circulate clouds and showers inland across western Oregon today, along with some sunbreaks. After hitting highs only in the mid 50s Tuesday, warming southerly winds will help Willamette Valley temperatures climb into the low 60s this afternoon. Amazingly, snow fell in the Columbia Gorge Tuesday...possibly the earliest snowfall on record for some locations. Who knows what that means for this winter, but October, 2009 has seen some rare weather events. Surface Winds: S 10-20 G30 this morning, SSW 7-15 G25 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SSW 30 this morning, SSW 30 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3000 feet. Ventilation index 90. High Temperature: Salem's high temperature today will be near 61. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 60%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:28pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:28am. Extended Outlook: A warm front will likely bring some light rain to mainly northwestern Oregon Thursday, with the snow level lifting above 8000 feet in the Cascades. A transitory ridge will bring brief drying and warming late Thursday and Friday. A cold front is forecast to swing onshore Friday evening. Southwesterly flow aloft will direct the bulk of the rain from that system into southern British Columbia and Western Washington, but the entire Willamette Valley should pick up at least some rain. A few showers could linger into Sunday with yet another weather system forecast to come onshore Sunday night and Monday. It appears as if a transitory ridge may bring some drying and warming next Tuesday and Wednesday. Tomorrow (15 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Light Rain Likely North...Chance of Rain South. 51/65 Fri (16 Oct): Mostly Cloudy but Warmer. Chance of Rain Late. 50/70 Sat (17 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 53/63 Sun (18 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. Increasing Rain Late. 47/62 Mon (19 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. 49/60 Tue (20 Oct): Areas of AM Fog...Becoming Partly Sunny. 45/66 Wed (21 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny. Increasing Clouds Late. 44/66 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 15 09:00:23 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:23 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 15th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from 11:00am until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: After a very windy Wednesday, things are much more calm this morning across western Oregon. A weak warm front was pushing bands of rain northward across northwestern Oregon, with light rain falling from Portland to Salem, in the Willamette Valley, at mid-morning. Skies were cloudy, but it was mostly dry in the south valley. Skies should stay mostly cloudy today, with a chance of light rain at times...mainly north. Partial clearing is possible, especially south. The ODA surface analysis showed weak offshore pressure gradients across western Oregon, and surface reports showed east-southeasterly winds blowing at less than 10 mph, except for gusts to around 25 mph at the western end of the Columbia Gorge. Temperatures were very mild overnight with minimums mostly in the upper 40s. The air mass aloft is also cntinuing to warm. The freezing level over Salem rose from 7200 feet Wednesday morning to 9000 feet this morning. The air to the south is even warmer, with the freezing level over Medford measured at 11,300 feet early this morning. Southerly winds aloft will transport that warmer air northward, to over northwestern Oregon, today. The combination of warm air aloft and light southeasterly winds should help temperatures climb into the mid to upper 60s this afternoon. Areas that see some partial clearing may break the 70-degree mark, especially in the south valley. Average highs, for mid-October, are around 65 degrees in the Willamette Valley. Surface Winds: ESE 3-8 this morning, SE 5-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SE 8 this morning, S 10 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3300 feet. Ventilation index 33. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 68. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 59%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:27pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:30am. Extended Outlook: south-southwesterly flow aloft will make for a very mild overnight period, with temperatures likely remaing above 50 degrees. Warming southerly winds should push Willamette Valley temperatures well into the 60s Friday afternoon, with the freezing level in the northern Cascades rising above 10,000 feet. A slow-moving cold front is forecast to swing onshore by Friday evening and stall over northwestern Oregon Friday night and Saturday. That could bring soaking rains to the region, with more than an inch possible from the coast to the Cascades. The steady rain should turn to showers by Saturday night, with some showers lingering into Sunday. Another weather system is forecast to spread some light rain back across western Oregon Monday.come onshore Monday. There may be a brief break from the rain late Monday and early Tuesday, ahead of another potent storm Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. Tomorrow (16 Oct): Mostly Cloudy but Warmer. Chance of Rain Late. 51/71 Sat (17 Oct): Rain...Possible 1+ Inch totals in the Valley. 53/65 Sun (18 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. Increasing Rain Late. 47/62 Mon (19 Oct): Light Rain Turning to Showers. 46/61 Tue (20 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds...Rain Late. 45/66 Wed (21 Oct): Showers Likely. 44/66 Thu (22 Oct): Mostly cloudy. Chance of Showers. 44/62 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 15 12:11:21 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:11:21 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 15th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. ...Next Forecast Update Not Until Tuesday, October 20th, at 9:00am... NOON UPDATE Issued: Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 12:00pm. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from now until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: Conditions were drying out across western Oregon late this morning. A weak warm front pushed a band of rain northward across most of the Willamette Valley earlier this morning. Rainfall amounts were generally less than one-tenth of an inch. Doppler Radar showed the rain-band had moved mainly in southwestern Washington by midday. Satellite imagery still showed considerable clouds over the Willamette Valley, but some thin sopts were beginning to emerge. A transitory ridge of high pressure will likely bring some partial clearing to western Oregon this afternoon...especially south. Temperatures were mostly in the upper 50s across the valley at midday. The ODA surface analysis showed weak offshore pressure gradients across western Oregon, with winds blowing at less than 10 mph. East winds were still gusting to near 20 mph at the western end of the Columbia Gorge. The air mass aloft is continuing to warm, with the freezing levels measured over Salem and Medford this morning at 9000 feet and 11,300 feet respectively. Southerly winds aloft will continue to warm the air mass this afternoon. The combination of warm air aloft and light southeasterly winds should help temperatures climb into the mid to upper 60s this afternoon. Areas that see some partial clearing may break the 70-degree mark, especially in the south valley. Average highs, for mid-October, are around 65 degrees in the Willamette Valley. Surface Winds: SE 5-10 this afternoon. Transport Winds: S 10 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3300 feet. Ventilation index 33. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 68. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 59%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:27pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:30am. Extended Outlook: South-southwesterly flow aloft will make for a very night, with temperatures likely remaing above 50 degrees. Warming southerly winds should push Willamette Valley temperatures to around 70 degrees Friday afternoon, with the freezing level in the northern Cascades rising above 10,000 feet. A slow-moving cold front is forecast to swing onshore by Friday evening and stall over northwestern Oregon Friday night and Saturday. That could bring soaking rains to the region, with more than an inch possible from the coast to the Cascades. The steady rain should turn to showers by Saturday night, with some showers lingering into Sunday. Another weather system is forecast to spread some light rain back across western Oregon Monday. There may be a brief break from the rain late Monday and early Tuesday, ahead of another potent storm slated to move onshore Tuesday afternoon and across the state Wednesday. Tomorrow (16 Oct): Mostly Cloudy but Warmer. Chance of Rain Late. 51/71 Sat (17 Oct): Rain...Possible 1+ Inch totals in the Valley. 53/65 Sun (18 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Showers. Increasing Rain Late. 47/62 Mon (19 Oct): Light Rain Turning to Showers. 46/61 Tue (20 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds...Rain Late. 45/66 Wed (21 Oct): Rain Early...Turning to Showers. 44/66 Thu (22 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Mostly Cloudy. 44/62 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Oct 20 09:00:57 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:00:57 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is not recommended. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: A transitory ridge or high pressure will build over Washington and Oregon today for dry and stagnant weather conditions. Visible satellite imagery showed considerable fog and low clouds along the coast and across the Willamette Valley, with surface reports showing visibilities locally only about one-quater of a mile. The ODA surface analysis showed weak high pressure centered over eastern Oregon with light offshore gradients beginning to develop across western Oregon. The low clouds and fog held overnight temperatures in the 40s across western Oregon, with mid-morning readings mostly from the mid 40s to the low 50s. The morning fog and low clouds will likely give way to at least partly sunny skies this afternoon across western Oregon with highs climbing to near-normal (low 60s). Surface Winds: Var 0-5 this morning, SE 2-6 this afternoon. Transport Winds: S 3 this morning, SE 4 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 1700 feet. Ventilation index 7. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 63. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 56%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:18pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:36am. Extended Outlook: A weak weather system push mainly into southern British Columbia Wednesday, with the cold front bringing some light rain to western Oregon. Rainfall amounts should be between one-tenth and one-quarter of an inch in the Willamette Valley and along the south coast. The north coast may pick up a little over one-quater of an inch...especially near Astoria. Another transitory ridge of high pressure will bring a return of dry weather Thursday with fairly widespread areas of fog that should give way to partly sunny skies in the afternoon. The next weather system is also forecast to push mainly into the southern British Columbia on Friday, but the trailing cold front should bring at least some light rain to western Oregon late in the day. A shower or two may linger over northwestern Oregon into Saturday morning, with some clearing Saturday afternoon. The timing of weather systems, beyond a couple of days out, is difficult, but it appears as if the next weather system will come onshore by Sunday evening. That system is forecast to have a stronger jet stream associated with it, with the main storm track sagging southward to move over Washington and Oregon. That could lower the snow level to the Cascade passes by Monday afternoon. Tomorrow (21 Oct): Light Rain Likely. 47/60 Thu (22 Oct): AM Fog and Low Clouds. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 45/64 Fri (23 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. A Little Rain Likely Late. 43/64 Sat (24 Oct): Slight Chance AM Shower. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 45/62 Sun (25 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain by Afternoon. 42/60 Mon (26 Oct): Rain at Times. Snow Level Dropping to 4000 Feet. 43/59 Tue (27 Oct): Showers and Cool. Snow level 3000 Feet. 42/55 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Oct 21 09:01:08 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:01:08 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from now until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: Cloudy skies held temperatures mostly in the upper 40s and low 50s overnight across western Oregon. Rain moved onshore in the pre-dawn hours this morning, ahead of a cold front that was just off the coastline at mid-morning. The air mass was unstable enough for widespread thunderstorm development from the south-central coast to the southwestern Willamette Valley. There was considerable lightning and thunder this morning from Corvallis, to Eugene, to Roseburg and around North Bend, on the south coast. Doppler radar, at mid-morning, showed the strongest shower cells moving east, into the Cascades, with lighter rain moving onshore. Rainfall amounts were greatest along the coast this morning, where some locations picked up around one-half of an inch. Most western valley locations received around one-tenth of an inch, with local spots getting close to one-quarter of an inch. Areas of light rain were making it east of the Cascades at mid-morning...especially across north-central Oregon. Lightning detection was also indicating that a few thunderstorms were developing, well ahead of the cold front, over northeastern Oregon. The cold front is forecast to continue to bring light rain to western Oregon this morning. Rain will turn to showers, as the front pushes east of the Cascades this afternoon. Additional rainfall amounts across the valley should be around one-tenth of an inch or less. Southerly winds should turn more westerly, in the wake of the cold front, by late this afternoon. The air aloft is still warm enough to support high temperatuers climbing into the lower 60s this afternoon...especially if there are many breaks in the clouds. The freezing level was measured over Salem this morning at 10,700 feet and is forecast to drop only to about 8000 feet this afternoon. Higher mixing heights and brisk transport winds will make for much-improved ventilation conditions today. Surface Winds: S 5-15 this morning, W 5-12 this afternoon. Transport Winds: S 15 this morning, W 12 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 4500 feet. Ventilation index 68. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 63. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 65%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:17pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:37am. Extended Outlook: Another transitory ridge of high pressure will bring a return of dry weather Thursday with widespread morning fog giving way to partly sunny skies in the afternoon. The next weather system is also forecast to push mainly into the southern British Columbia on Friday, but the trailing cold front should bring at least some light rain to western Oregon late in the day. A shower or two may linger into Saturday morning, with some clearing Saturday afternoon. The next weather system is forecast to swing more rain onshore by Sunday evening. As the main storm track sags southward, to move over Washington and Oregon, snow levels should drop to the Cascade passes by Monday afternoon. Tomorrow (22 Oct): AM Fog and Low Clouds. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 45/64 Fri (23 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. PM Rain Developing. 43/62 Sat (24 Oct): Slight Chance AM Shower. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 45/62 Sun (25 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain by Afternoon. 42/60 Mon (26 Oct): Rain at Times. Snow Level Dropping to 4000 Feet. 43/57 Tue (27 Oct): Chance of Showers and Cool. Snow level 3-4000 Feet. 42/55 Wed (28 Oct): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Rain. 41/59 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Oct 21 11:58:44 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:58:44 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. The October Update of the ODA Seasonal Climate Forecast is Available at: http://oregon.gov/ODA/NRD/weather.shtml#Weather_forecasts NOON UPDATE Issued: Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 12:00pm. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed from now until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: Rain and thunderstorms spread across western Oregon during the pre-dawn hours this morning, ahead of a cold front that was moving onshore late this morning. There was considerable lightning and thunder from Corvallis, to Eugene, to Roseburg and around North Bend, on the south coast. Rainfall amounts were greatest along the north coast, with nearly two-thirds of an inch (.63 inches) falling at Astoria. Between one-tenth and one quarter of an inch fell along the central and south coast and the Willamette Valley. Portland picked up just over one-quarter (.27 inches) of an inch. The showers weakened as they advanced across the Cascades. Redmond received .07 inches, while Pendleton only managed to get .01 inches. Meacham, in the Blue Mountains, received only a trace of rain this morning. Lightning detection was still indicating an isolated strike or two over south-central Oregon late this morning, but otherwise things had settled down. Pockets of light rain were showing up on radar, across central and eastern Oregon, but surface reports were not showing much rainfall. Doppler radar showed the areas of light rain were tapering off across northwestern Oregon late this morning. The cold front is forecast to push east of the Cascades by late this afternoon, with showers tapering off across western Oregon. Some sunbreaks were appearing along the coast at midday and could make their way into the Willamette Valley this afternoon. Additional rainfall amounts across the valley should be a couple hundredths of an inch, at most. The air aloft is still warm enough to support high temperatuers climbing into the lower 60s this afternoon...especially if there are many breaks in the clouds. The freezing level was measured over Salem this morning at 10,700 feet and is forecast to only drop to about 8000 feet this afternoon. Southerly winds should turn more westerly, in the wake of the cold front, by late this afternoon. Higher mixing heights and brisk transport winds will make for much-improved ventilation conditions today. Surface Winds: W 5-12 this afternoon. Transport Winds: W 12 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 4500 feet. Ventilation index 68. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 63. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 65%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:17pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:37am. Extended Outlook: Another transitory ridge of high pressure will bring a return of dry weather Thursday with widespread morning fog giving way to partly sunny skies in the afternoon. The next weather system is forecast to spread more rain across western Oregon Friday. Rainfall amounts should be similar to today, with the greatest totals on the north coast and the northern Willamette Valley. A shower or two may linger into Saturday morning, with some clearing Saturday afternoon. The next weather system is forecast to swing more rain onshore Sunday afternoon. The storm track is forecast to sag southward, over Washington and Oregon, late Sunday through Tuesday. Colder air aloft will drop the snow level down to the northern Cascade passes by Monday afternoon. Strong northwesterly flow aloft is forecast next Tuesday and Wednesday, which will dry things out but keep temperatures below normal. Tomorrow (22 Oct): AM Fog and Low Clouds. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 45/64 Fri (23 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. PM Rain Developing. 43/62 Sat (24 Oct): Slight Chance AM Shower. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 45/62 Sun (25 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. Chance of Rain by Afternoon. 42/61 Mon (26 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. Snow Level Dropping to 4000 Feet. 43/57 Tue (27 Oct): Decreasing Chance of Showers and Cool. Snow level 3-4000 Feet. 40/55 Wed (28 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny and Cool. 39/57 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 22 09:10:46 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:10:46 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. The October Update of the ODA Seasonal Climate Forecast is Available at: http://oregon.gov/ODA/NRD/weather.shtml#Weather_forecasts Issued: Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is not recommended. Stack burning is not allowed. Weather Discussion: An active cold front spread rain across vitually all of western Oregon and the northern half of central and eastern Oregon on Wednesday. Rainfall amounts were greatest to the north and west, with the extreme north coast picking up over an inch. About one-quarter to one-half inch of rain fell along the central coast...decreasing to about one-tenth of an inch on the south coast. The northern Willamette Valley received about one-quarter of an inch, with amounts tapering off to as low as one-tenth of an inch in the south valley. Around one-tenth of an inch of rain, or less, fell from north-central to northeastern Oregon, with conditions remaining dry over southeastern Oregon. Rain tapered off Wednesday afternoon across western Oregon with partly sunny skies and fairly warm air aloft helping temperatures climb into the low to mid 60s. Continued clearing overnight, combined with the recent rainfall and light winds, lead to the widespread formation of fog across western Oregon by this morning. Visibilities were locally below one-quarter of a mile throughout the Willamette Valley. The mid-morning ODA surface analysis showed high pressure extending from western Washington into north-central Oregon with weak northeasterly gradients across western Oregon. Surface reports showed offshore winds at around 5 mph or less. Temperatures were mostly in the upper 40s and low 50s. Hillsboro was the exception with a bone-chilling reading of just 39 degrees. A transitory upper-level ridge will move over Oregon and Washington this afternoon, with warm air aloft and light winds helping to maintain the low-level temperature inversion. Satellite imagery showed the widespread valley fog across western Oregon. In addition, high clouds from the next weather system were already advancing onto the Washington and northern Oregon coastlines. The air aloft is still very warm, with the freezing level over Salem measured this morning at 11,500 feet. High temperatures will vary, depending on the local duration of fog. Most of the Willamette Valley should climb into the low 60s, with some areas possibly reaching the mid 60s. High and mid-level clouds should be thickening, when the fog finally does begin to break up this afternoon. A few sprinkles are even possible along the extreme north coast by late this afternoon. Surface Winds: NE 0-5 this morning, Var 0-5 this afternoon. Transport Winds: NE 3 this morning, Var 4 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 1500 feet. Ventilation index 6. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 62. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 62%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:15pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:39am. Extended Outlook: The next weather system is forecast to spread more rain across western Oregon Friday. Rainfall amounts could exceed one-half inch along the north coast and one-third of an inch in the northern Willamette Valley. Rainfall totals will taper off to to south, but even the southern Willamette Valley should pick up between one-tenth and one-quarter of an inch. Some rain will also spread across central and eastern Oregon Friday afternoon...perhaps making it all the way to the southeastern corner of the state by Friday night. The rain should taper off Friday night, across western Oregon, with areas of fog forming by Saturday morning. A transitory ridge of high pressure will likely bring some clearing Saturday afternoon through early Sunday, which will likely lead to at least patchy fog formation again Sunday morning. The next weather system is forecast to swing more rain onshore Sunday afternoon. The storm track is forecast to sag southward, over Washington and Oregon, late Sunday through Tuesday. Colder air aloft will drop the snow level down to the northern Cascade passes by Monday afternoon. Strong northwesterly flow aloft is forecast next Tuesday and Wednesday, which will dry things out but keep temperatures below normal. A more vigorous system is forecast to come onshore next Thursday. Tomorrow (23 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. PM Rain Developing. 48/61 Sat (24 Oct): AM Fog. Partial Afternoon Clearing. 43/62 Sun (25 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Rain Developing by the Afternoon. 41/60 Mon (26 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. Snow Level Dropping to 4000 Feet. 45/57 Tue (27 Oct): Showers Ending Early. Clearing and Cool. Snow level 4000 Feet. 40/56 Wed (28 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny and Cool. Slight Chance Sprinkles North. 39/57 Thu (29 Oct): Rainy and Possibly Windy. Snow Level Dropping to 3000 Feet Late. 42/59 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Fri Oct 23 09:12:55 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:12:55 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Friday, October 23rd, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. The October Update of the ODA Seasonal Climate Forecast is Available at: http://oregon.gov/ODA/NRD/weather.shtml#Weather_forecasts ...Next Update Not Until Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 9:00am... Issued: Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 10:00am until 4:30pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from 10:00am until 4:30pm. Weather Discussion: Satellite imagery showed an impressive cloud-shield, associated with a Pacific frontal system, covering all of Washington and most of Oregon. The main low-pressure center was moving across the northern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, with a cold front extending southwestward to about 200 miles off the Oregon Coast. Doppler radar and surface reports showed areas of locally heavy rain, west of the Cascades, from western Washington southward to Eugene, Oregon. As of 8 a.m., the northern Oregon Coast had already received close to one-third of an inch of rain, with around one-tenth of an inch falling across the Willamette Valley. Light rain was also spreading across all of central and eastern Washington and much of north-central Oregon. Rain will continue to spread south and east, across Oregon, this morning...possibly extending clear to the southeastern corner of the state by later this afternoon. Southerly pressure-gradients are also increasing across northwestern Oregon, with winds gusting to around 30 mph on the north coast. South winds will become gusting in the Willamette Valley, as well, today. Mid-morning temperatures were mostly in the mild low to mid 50s across western Oregon, but highs this afternoon will only climb to around 60 degrees. Rainfall amounts could approach an inch along the north coast today and exceed one-third of an inch in the Willamette Valley. Rainfall totals will taper off to the south and east, but even the southwestern valleys, and the northern half of central and eastern Oregon, could pick up over one-tenth of an inch. The rain should taper off to showers, across western Oregon, by this evening, with partial clearing leading to areas of fog formation by Saturday morning. Surface Winds: S 10-20 G25 this morning, WSW 10-20 G25 this afternoon. Transport Winds: S 25 this morning, SW 25 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 3500 feet. Ventilation index 88. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 61. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 78%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:13pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:40am. Extended Outlook: A transitory ridge of high pressure will dry things out Saturday. Widespread morning fog is likely, with some clearing in the afternoon. Clouds will increase Sunday morning, in association with a warm front that will likely bring some rain to northwestern Oregon Sunday afternoon. The jet stream is forecast to strengthen, and take aim more at Washington and Oregon by Sunday night. A strong cold front will bring more significant rain to western Oregon by early Monday, following by a cold upper-level trough Monday afternoon and night. Colder air aloft will drop the snow level down to the northern Cascade passes by Monday night. Strong northwesterly flow aloft will maintain scattered showers across western Oregon Tuesday, with the snow level remaining at or below the Cascade passes. As the upper-level trough exits to the east, on Wednesday, the flow aloft will turn more northerly and dry out. A fairly strong ridge is now forecast to build over the west coast, during the middle of next week, bringing dry and stagnant conditions, with below normal temperatures. Overnight minimums will likely drop well down into the 30s, across the Willamette Valley, with possible areas of frost. Temperatures will moderate, close to normal, by the end of the week. Tomorrow (24 Oct): AM Fog and Low Clouds. Partial Afternoon Clearing. 43/62 Sun (25 Oct): AM Fog. Increasing Clouds. Light Rain Developing...Mainly North. 40/58 Mon (26 Oct): Rain Turning to Showers. Snow Level Dropping to 3-4000 Feet Late. 50/58 Tue (27 Oct): Scattered Showers and Cool. Snow level 3-4000 Feet. 42/55 Wed (28 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny and Cool. Freezing Level near 5000 Feet. 35/56 Thu (29 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Possible Frost. Afternoon Clearing. 34/57 Fri (30 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny. 37/60 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Oct 28 09:07:59 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:07:59 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Straw stack burning is allowed from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Weather Discussion: After a very wet Monday, with about one inch of rain falling along the coast and one-half inch across the Willamette Valley, showers tapered off Tuesday, with Willamette Valley rainfall amounts ony around one-tenth of an inch or less. The early-week weather system brought 6-12 inches of snow to the Cascade passes. Conditions were dry this morning, but the passes remained snow-packed with temperatures in the mid 20s. The freezing level was measured over Salem this morning at only 3700 feet. Light winds and partial clearing allowed temperatures to drop well into the 30s across western Oregon overnight. McMinnville dipped to the freezing mark and Hillsboro dropped to 34 degrees. Residual cloudiness prevented widespread fog from forming across western Oregon overnight, but there were some patches of fog in the Willamette Valley this morning. Satellite imagery showed considerable middle and high clouds streaming over Washington and Oregon, in a cool but dry northwesterly flow aloft. The ODA surface analysis showed high pressure over western Oregon with very weak southerly gradients across the Willamette Valley. Mid-morning temperatures ranged from the mid 30s to the low 40s, under mostly cloudy skies with light south-southeasterly winds. Skies will remain mostly cloudy today, as a Pacific warm front slowly approaches the coastline. Precipitation should remain offshore, however, until this evening. Cool surface temperatures and warming aloft will combine to keep mixing heights near or below about 2000 feet this afternoon, but wind directions are favorable for stack burning. Southerly winds should increase overnight, in response to the approaching warm front, which will aid in the continued evacuation of smoke from stack burns. Light rain should also spread inland overnight, which will keep temperatures in the 40s. Surface Winds: SSE 3-6 this morning, SE 3-7 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SSW 5 this morning, S 6 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2000 feet. Ventilation index 12. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 52. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 59%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:06pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:47am. Extended Outlook: A warm front will spread rain across most of western Oregon Thursday. The Willamette Valley will likely receive between one-quarter and one-half inch of rain, with the greatest totals in the north. Rapid warming aloft should lift the freezing level to nearly 10,000 feet by Thursday evening. Surface temperatures will slowly rise, on Thursday, with warming southerly winds possibly leading to midnight maximums Thursday night. The steady rain will likely taper off by Friday morning with areas of fog forming. Friday will be spent in the warm-sector of the storm, with afternoon clearing and southerly breezes likely warming temperatures into the low to mid 60s. The cold front is forecast to bring rain onshore Friday night, with showers continuing into Saturday. The air mass behind this cold front is not nearly as cold as the one earlier this week, with the snow level only forecast to drop to about 6-7000 feet Saturday afternoon. The showers will likely taper off just in time for the trick-or-treaters Saturday night. A flat and broad ridge of high pressure is forecast to bring dry conditions early next week. Tomorrow (29 Oct): Rain. Slowly Warming Temperatures. South Winds 10-20 mph. 43/55 Fri (30 Oct): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny and Mild. South Winds. 52/63 Sat (31 Oct): Rain Early...Decreasing Showers. 49/59 Sun (01 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 43/58 Mon (02 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 42/57 Tue (03 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 42/58 Wed (04 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 41/56 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Oct 29 09:08:52 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:08:52 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Thursday, October 29th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:00pm. Straw stack burning is allowed, for dry stacks, from now until 4:00pm. Weather Discussion: A warm front spread light rain onshore and into the Willamette Valley Wednesday evening. Light rain continued to fall overnight along the northern and central coast and across the Willamette Valley. Rainfall totals have been greatest to the north. By mid-morning, rainfall amounts ranged from just a few hundredths of an inch, in the south valley and along the central coast, to more than one-quarter of an inch from the north valley to the north coast. Satellite imagery showed clouds covering virtually all of Washington and Oregon, with a very moist northwesterly flow aloft. Doppler radar showed areas of precipitation extending south and east across all of Oregon. The ODA surface analysis showed the warm front just off the Washington and northern Oregon coastline. Ahead of the front, south-southeasterly winds were gusting to 25 mph from the coast to the Willamette Valley. Temperatures were mostly in the mid 40s. Warmer air aloft is rapidly lifting freezing levels, from west to east, across Oregon. The freezing level over Salem jumped from 4200 feet Wednesday evening to 11,200 feet this morning. However, the air mass is cold enough this morning, east of the Cascades, to support areas of light snow. Meacham, John day, and Burns were reporting light snow at mid-morning, with temperatures in the upper 20s and low 30s. Enough warm air aloft had moved over the Cascade passes, and north-central Oregon, to turn to the light snow to rain, by mid-morning, with surface temperatures just above freezing. Rain will continue across the Willamette Valley today, as the warm front moves onshore. Total rainfall amounts will likely range from around one-quarter of an inch south to more than one-half inch in the north valley. Continued warming aloft should lift the snow level to the highest peaks in the Cascades and turn the snow to rain across eastern Oregon this afternoon. Surface temperatures will slowly rise today, across western Oregon, with warming southerly winds helping temperatures climb into the mid 50s by midnight. Surface Winds: SSE 7-17 G25 this morning, S 7-17 G25 this afternoon. Transport Winds: S 22 this morning, S 22 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2000 feet. Ventilation index 44. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 56. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 72%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:04pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:48am. Extended Outlook: The steady rain will likely taper off by Friday morning with possible areas of fog forming. Friday will be spent in the warm-sector of the storm, with mostly cloudy skies and the best chance of rain across the northwestern corner of the state. Warming southerly breezes will likely lift temperatures into the low to mid 60s. A cold front is forecast to bring rain onshore Friday night, with showers continuing into Saturday afternoon. The air mass behind this cold front is not nearly as cold as the one earlier this week, with the snow level only forecast to drop to about 6-7000 feet Saturday afternoon. The showers will likely begin tapering off, as the trick-or-treaters head out Saturday night. A flat and broad ridge of high pressure is forecast to bring a mostly dry day on Sunday...followed by a weak system on Monday. The ridge may build enough over the region to keep things dry next Tuesday through Thursday. Tomorrow (30 Oct): AM Fog Patches. Chance of Rain...Mainly North. Mild South Winds. 52/63 Sat (31 Oct): Rain Early...Decreasing Showers. 49/59 Sun (01 Nov): Partly Sunny. 43/58 Mon (02 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. Chance of Light Rain...Mainly North. 42/57 Tue (03 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 42/58 Wed (04 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 41/56 Thu (05 Nov): Mostly Cloudy. 42/56 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Fri Oct 30 08:56:18 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:56:18 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Friday, October 30th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. Issued: Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:00am. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:00pm. Straw stack burning is allowed from now until 4:00pm. Weather Discussion: The warm front that brought rain to western Oregon on Thursday weakened as it pushed inland Thursday night. Southerly winds continued to warm temperatures overnight, as the rain across western Oregon tapered off. Thursday\'s highs across much of the region occurred at midnight, with Willamette Valley temperatures climbing into the mid 50s. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 50s, at mid-morning, under mostly cloudy skies. In the wake of the warm front, the ODA surface analysis continued to show southerly pressure gradients across western Oregon. Mild southerly winds will locally gust to around 20 mph today, from the coast to the Cascades, making for a rather balmy late-October day. Valley highs should climb into the mid 60s this afternoon, with some sunbreaks. Surface Winds: S 5-15 G20 this morning, S 5-15 G20 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SSW 20 this morning, SSW 20 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2000 feet. Ventilation index 40. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 64. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 70%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:03pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:50am. Extended Outlook: A cold front is forecast to bring a pretty good burst of rain to western Oregon early Saturday morning, with one-quarter to one-half inch possible...especially in the northern Willamette Valley. The front will quickly push east of the Cascades, by midday, with some showers will likely follow the cold front onshore. However, the air mass behind this front is not very cold, so showers should begin tapering off by Saturday evening, with the snow level staying above 5000 feet. A flat and broad upper-level ridge of high pressure is forecast to build into the coastline Sunday, with continued drying of the air mass possibly leading to some sunbreaks. A weak weather system may brush the northwestern corner of the state, with some light rain, late Monday. The ridge is then forecast to strongly rebuild over the west coast, giving Oregon a break from the damp weather for much of next week. A chance of light rain returns by next Friday, mainly in the north. Tomorrow (31 Oct): Rain Early...Decreasing Showers in the Afternoon. 52/59 Sun (01 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny. 40/58 Mon (02 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Mostly Cloudy. Slight Chance of Rain North Late. 38/58 Tue (03 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/60 Wed (04 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/60 Thu (05 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/60 Fri (06 Nov): Increasing Clouds. Chance of Light Rain...Mainly North. 43/57 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us From willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Fri Oct 30 12:07:00 2009 From: willamette-fcst at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Willamette Valley Ag/Burning Forecast) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:07:00 -0500 Subject: [willamette-fcst] Forecast - Friday, October 30th, 2009 Message-ID: Daily Smoke Management Forecast Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program Weather Outlook and Field Burning Advisory for Willamette Valley Growers and Fire Districts. NOON UPDATE Issued: Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 12:00pm. Burn Advisory: Agricultural burning is allowed. Suggested burn times are from now until 4:00pm. Straw stack burning is allowed from now until 4:00pm. Weather Discussion: In the wake of Thursday\'s damp warm front, mild southerly winds kept temperatures in the mid 50s overnight across western Oregon. The late-morning ODA surface analysis continued to show southerly pressure-gradients, with south winds gusting to about 20 mph. Temperatures were mostly in the mid to upper 50s under cloudy skies. Warming southerly winds slowly made their way eastward, across central and eastern Oregon, Thursday afternoon and night...changing the light snow to rain in most areas. However, the low-level cold air did not get scoured out of the Baker City area, where light snow turned to light freezing rain overnight. By late this moring, the temperature had finally risen above the freezing mark (mid 30s) in Baker City. Meanwhile, the vast majority of central and eastern Oregon had warmed well into the 40s and 50s with balmy southwesterly winds. An upper-level ridge of high pressure is weakly pushing onshore and helping to dry out the very moist air mass. Visible satellite imagery showed low clouds blanketing most of Washington and Oregon. Downsloping westerly winds were clearing the skies over much of central Oregon. Doppler radar showed areas of sprinkles across extreme northwestern Oregon and western Washington. Hillsboro picked up .01 inches of rain between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. this morning, but most of the Willamette Valley stayed dry. Temperatures had warmed into the mid to upper 50s by late this morning, across western Oregon, and highs this afternoon should climb into the low to mid 60s...with a few sunbreaks. There will continue to be a chance of sprinkles in the north valley. Surface Winds: S 5-15 G20 this afternoon. Transport Winds: SSW 20 this afternoon. Atmospheric Ventilation Conditions: Maximum mixing height today will be near 2000 feet. Ventilation index 40. High Temperature: Salem\'s high temperature today will be near 64. Humidities: Minimum relative humidity will be near 70%. Sunrise/Sunset: Salem sunset tonight: 6:03pm; sunrise tomorrow: 7:50am. Extended Outlook: A cold front is forecast to bring a pretty good burst of rain to western Oregon late tonight through early Saturday morning, with one-quarter to one-half inch possible from the north coast to the northern Willamette Valley. The south valley will likely receive around one-tenth of an inch or less rainfall. The front will quickly push east of the Cascades, by midday, with some showers continuing to roll onshore through Saturday afternoon. The air mass behind this front is not very cold, so showers should begin tapering off by Saturday evening, with the snow level staying above 5000 feet. A flat and broad upper-level ridge of high pressure is forecast to build into the coastline Sunday, with continued drying of the air mass possibly leading to some sunbreaks. A weak weather system may brush the northwestern corner of the state, with some light rain, late Monday. The ridge is forecast to rebuild over the west coast, possibly giving Oregon a break from the damp weather for much of next week. There is a chance that a weather system will be strong enough to bring some rain on Wednesday, with another slated to move be, mainly to the north, on Friday. Tomorrow (31 Oct): Rain Early...Decreasing Showers in the Afternoon. 52/59 Sun (01 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny. 40/58 Mon (02 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Mostly Cloudy. Slight Chance of Rain North Late. 38/58 Tue (03 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/60 Wed (04 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Mostly Cloudy. Slight Chance of Rain. 40/60 Thu (05 Nov): Areas of AM Fog. Partly Sunny in the Afternoon. 40/60 Fri (06 Nov): Increasing Clouds. Chance of Light Rain...Mainly North. 43/57 ODA Meteorologist weather at oda.state.or.us