PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Air quality continues to improve along the Willamette Valley on Friday as lightning keeps the risk of new wildfires starting and spreading elevated.
Early morning clouds will fade to filtered sunshine as Portland’s air quality continues to improve. Sunny afternoon skies will warm into the seasonal mid-80s Friday afternoon. Temperatures will remain stable in the mid-80s through the start of next week.
Afternoon and evening thunderstorms will develop Friday and Saturday afternoon over the Cascades and points east. These thunderstorms will have little rain but abundant lightning and gusty winds. Winds could gust close to 40 mph as lightning threatens new fire starts.
LIVE BLOG: Oregon’s record-breaking wildfire season reaches 2.3M acres burned
The dry landscape seen across the Pacific Northwest is expected to last through the middle of August. The number of rain-free days continues to increase across the greater Portland-Vancouver area.
Temperatures will slowly fall into the low 80s by the middle of the week as sunny skies remain. The threat of wildfire smoke returning to the Willamette Valley remains as long as eastern wildfires continue to burn…