Oregon is forecast to get a system of heavy rain this week, which has a slight chance to bring flooding in the Coast Range while high tides and overflow could impact U.S. Highway 101.
National Weather Service forecasters said the system isn’t quite an atmospheric river, but is a system of warm air that will lead to major amounts of precipitation Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
“We’re going to get quite a bit of rain,” NWS meteorologist Rebecca Muessle said. “But it’s not the same type of setup as an atmospheric river.”
In addition, a winter weather advisory has been issued for highways above 5,000 feet in the southern Oregon Cascades for 8-16 inches of snow, primarily impacting the Willamette Pass to Crater Lake area on highways 62, 230, 138 and 58. The bulk of precipitation will fall as rain this week, except at the highest elevations of the Cascade volcanoes.
Rain in the Willamette Valley, possible flooding
The forecast calls for around a half-inch to an inch of rain in 24 hours in the Willamette Valley, with the possibility of a little more toward the mountains.