Shifting into Rainy Season

Friday October 18

He's Back!  Not The Terminator, just a wx geek sharing long-range forecasts with you.  Ready?  ☕️  Let’s do it.  

Today & this weekend will be a split-decision kind of pattern, with the northern 1/2 of western WA, along with southern BC, getting hammered with multiple inches of rain & plenty of wind gusts.  SW WA & OR, on down into northern CA, will avoid the rain until later on Sunday.  Mild temps.   Late Sunday, the rain band will shift south, providing a quick-shot of rain to western OR & northern CA.  

Regionally, showers will linger a bit on Mon the 21st, leading into a pleasant, dry fall pattern that could last through Fri Oct 25.  Enjoy it while you can.  Temps will be mild, although a light frost could appear across portions of the eastern basins early in the week.  A wet warm front will move into the PNW overnight Thu into Fri, setting up the beginning of an extended rainy pattern.  A Classic Fall rainy period begins. 

WET, blustery and notably cooler weekend to begin the last weekend of October.  Snow in the higher elevations, both north & south Cascades.  Sunday night, the 27th will usher in another very wet system from the NW.  Only the beginning, Patrons.

The week of Halloween is looking constantly WET and blustery.  Inches of precip is on tap, with steady rainfall every day through the week AND through the weekend of Nov 2,3!   Get a few good books.  Indoor time.

The “daily rain” pattern is currently charting to begin around Fri Oct 25 and last at least through the first week of November.  

Total cumulative precipitation, per most recent model compilations, is forecast to be in the 5” to 10” range from today through Nov 3.  Higher end of that range will be in the coast & Cascade ranges.  Localized flooding will be probable, so keep aware & heed Nat’l Wx Service statements.  

Ponder Point: possible low elevation SNOW as a ‘winter-cold’ air mass may settle in over the PNW around Nov 5 - ELECTION DAY.  Stay tuned, Patron.  We are entering a La Nińa pattern.