- Rainy all day Thursday, heavy at times in afternoon with areas of flooding
- Gusty south wind returns Thursday evening = a few more power outages
- Light showers and calm Friday through weekend
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EARLY MORNING WIND
Overnight was loud and messy for some spots. Rain moved in late, and strong winds followed just after midnight. Gusts reached the mid 50s in the valley and metro area, climbed into the 50s and 60s along the coast, and were much stronger in the Gorge — hitting 78 mph at Crown Point and peaking at 138 mph at 2 a.m. on the Magic Mile.
Since the early morning hours, conditions have steadily calmed down. We’ve been in a nice break between weather systems through the day with just light wind and a few scattered showers.
But, a new storm system is approaching quickly and it’ll spread light rain into all of Western Oregon and SW Washington overnight. This is another very wet “atmospheric river”.
FIRST ALERT DAY THURSDAY
Thursday will be a First Alert Weather Day due to heavy rain arriving midday and into the afternoon. Forecast models are consistent producing 2.00 to 2.50” of rain from late tonight through midnight tomorrow. Up to 6” could fall on top of melting snow in the Cascades. These rain totals, on top of saturated ground and rivers already running high, will produce areas of flooding. Tomorrow’s afternoon/evening commute could be especially messy with areas of water on roads and highways. By late tomorrow evening, several local rivers will then likely rise above flood stage. That includes Johnson Creek, Sandy river, Clackamas, Molalla, and a few others farther south. Of course at any point a slope in a hilly area could slide, but we can’t predict that.
A gusty southerly wind will return for a few hours late tomorrow afternoon/evening too. The wind won’t be especially strong (gusts 25-35 mph), but expect a few more outages to pop up during that time.
IMPROVING FRIDAY & SATURDAY
After midnight Thursday night, the rain will stop in Portland and Salem, but continue southward toward Eugene as the atmospheric river heads into southwest Oregon…