By Gordon McCraw, Lead Tillamook County Meteorologist
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Man, I had an active night out there in Tillamook. I saw winds of 51 in Pacific City and found a gust of 56 at Tillamook Airport. The others were in the 30s to mid-40s. In terms of rain, you had plenty of that too, with Lees Camp reporting 3.7 inches in the past 24 hours, Tillamook 3.75, Mt Hebo 3.07 inches, and Oceanside 2.79. This pushed the rivers up, and the Wilson and Nhalem rivers reached the action stage. Fortunately, all the rivers have reached their peak and are falling. I also saw that the rain and wind caused some landslides and power outages in the province. Temperatures were steady all night and then right after the front passed around 10:00pm the temperature dropped like a rock and the wind and rain eased off as we started to transition to scattered showers. ODOT cameras are showing some snow as low as Lees Camp on Hwy 6 and Hwy 26 cameras are also showing snow this morning with temperatures currently near or just above freezing. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the Northern Oregon Coast Range that is now in effect until 6 a.m. tomorrow for areas above 1,500 degrees where they could get an additional 2-6 inches of snow with 6-12 inches possible above 2,500 feet. .
Now that the front has passed, cold, unstable air is pushing in and we see showers of rain with the possibility of hail, and perhaps even a thunderstorm or two this evening and tonight, and the winds become southerly from 10 to 15 gusts to 25 at night, and the low drops to approximately 35. This means that the snow level, which was near 1,500 degrees today, will drop to near 1,000 degrees with less snow, or the potential for a mix of rain and snow during heavy rain. For those areas, little to no accumulation is expected, again, for areas above 1,000 feet, 2-4 inches is expected overnight.
Post-frontal rain activity continues tomorrow, with a risk of a thunderstorm or two, southwest winds 10 to 15 reaching 20, highs now near 44. Rain chance remains tomorrow night, southwest winds 10 -15 reaching The high will drop to 20, the low will drop to near 34, and the snow level will drop near 800 with a risk of falling snow with any heavy showers. As my friends at the weather service say, make sure you're prepared for winter weather driving conditions if you're headed over the passes today or tomorrow, early next week, especially in the evening and into the morning hours.
So, on Saturday and Sunday we can expect another day of rain with rain/snow possible in the morning hours, the snow level will likely start each morning between 500 and 700 feet but rise in the afternoon to near 1000 with a high Afternoon heat. Close to 45 degrees. On Sunday night, a low pressure trough, which has been located offshore, is expected to begin drifting eastward into the area, which in turn will bring some disturbances that enhance rain activity and bring back the chance of thunderstorms, with an overnight low reaching 33 degrees. . The snow level is approaching 1000'.
The models are a bit mixed for next week, but given our recent activity, we are seeing mostly cloudy skies with rain possible each day, highs rising into the upper 40s by midweek, and lows in the mid to upper 30s.
Welcome to March!
