This spring is really shaping up to be remarkable.
Notably wet there. A wet April, a very wet May. And it’s not over yet.
Today, a river with a strong atmosphere is invading our region: a river that can be considered strong even in the middle of winter.
This is an image of a plume of atmospheric moisture from off the Pacific Ocean at 11pm on Friday. Blues have a VERY high value. And when this humidity rises to our local terrain, the result is heavy rain.
With a stream of moisture targeting Oregon, the heaviest rainfall is forecast along the Oregon coast and western Oregon, but with more rain to northeast Oregon and SW WA. Just where we need it.
Rainfall for the next week is astounding. Another system would push moisture along a similar path from the southwest. For the whole week, the region and northern Idaho will be hit very hard, with totals over 3 inches in large areas. This is very unusual in mid-June. The important thing is that some amount of rain will pour into northern CA, which is in dire need of rainfall.
Looking further into the future, Central Europe’s latest expansion forecast for the next 30 days is wetter than usual for the North West, which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Drier than usual in California, which is not good.
And with all this rainfall, the National Drought Monitoring Authority, FINALLY alleviated the severe drought in Washington State. Period. More on that in a future blog.
