Inland Northwest Hay Weather

We’re looking at a mild and mostly dry stretch of weather in the Inland Northwest. After our rain event this past week, very dry air moved in behind the storm. That’s resulted in some rather chilly nights and cool afternoons. But temperatures will gradually be warming. Mon-Wed:  very small chances of light rain showers. Highs in the 60s. Lows in the 30s. A little breezy on Tuesday.  Thu-Fri: Dry and warmer. Highs in the 70s. Lows in the. 40s Sat-Sun: small chance of showers. Highs in the 70s. Lows in the 40s.  Next week: Dry and mild. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s. Breezy afternoons. Chance of rain around May 9th or 10th.  Overall, our precipitation since October is starting to lag behind normal, especially over northeast Washington. Meanwhile the Palouse has had a surplus of rainfall.  Over the past 30 days, there’s been a similar signal. The northeast part of the state has been getting short-changed, while the Basin and Palouse have been wetter than normal...

We’re going to warm up quickly before a slow moving area of low pressure moves by, bringing rain showers and possibly thunderstorms to our area by the middle of the week.  Sunday: warmer with a high near 70. Light wind.  Monday: warmer with a high in the mid 70s. Light wind.  Tuesday: increasing clouds with a high in the upper 70s. Our first 80F day  isn’t out of the question. A breeze in the afternoon. Showers and thunderstorms possible overnight.  Wednesday: Showers likely with a possible thunderstorm. Much cooler with a high in the mid 50s. Gusty winds.  Thursday: chance of rain showers and continued cool. Highs mid 50s.  Friday into next week: small chance of showers with highs in the 60s  and lows in the 30s. Just how much rain we get is a tough call.  With a slow moving low, there will be bands of rain wrapping around the low.  Even the Basin will see rain with this pattern.  Where exactly those bands of rain are located is to...

Any seasoned veteran of the Inland Northwest knows that spring is not a linear warming trend.  And with the current weather pattern we’ve taken a step back. The cool weather will continue for a couple more days before things start to warm back up.  This Afternoon & Tonight: a warm front will bring rain to the region later today and this evening. Lows in the 30s.  Wednesday: A cold front will bring a second round of rain early in the morning. Another cold and blustery day with a high only around 50. Possible rain or snow showers in the afternoon and overnight. Low in the 20s overnight. Around 0.1” to 0.25” for a storm total precipitation.  Thursday: cold morning. Possible rain or snow showers. High only around 50. Gusty afternoon wind. Low in the 20s overnight.  Friday: cold morning. Should be dry with a an afternoon breeze and a high around 55. Low in the 20s overnight.  Saturday: increasing clouds with a chance of rain after sunset. High around 60. Lig...

Recently a weather outlook has been making the rounds. The Washington Post meteorologists caught wind of a professor positing about the potential for a super El Niño this coming winter, possibly the strongest in 140 years. They’ve written stories about it in March and April. For the record, the meteorologists at the Capital Weather Gang as well as the professor they reference are top notch, and I’m not writing this blog to disagree with them. I just wanted to add a few additional facts.  El Niño, as most of you probably know, is a warming of the ocean in the Pacific along the equator.  I won’t bore you with how this affects our weather in the Northwest.  But 9 times out of 10, El Niño brings mild winters to our area.   So how is El Niño measured?  A rectangular area in the Pacific is chosen and named Nino 3.4, which is the light blue area on the map below (image from the ECMWF webpage). Computer climate models predict ocean temperatures.  Those temperatures...

Our warm spell is expected to come to an end on Tuesday with a dry cold front.  But the weather will warm back into the 60s with dry weather for the rest of the week. All of that should change for the following week, when the weather will turn cooler and wetter, sometime around next Sunday (12 April).  Monday: high around 70. A little breezy in the afternoon and evening.  Tuesday: cooler and windy all day. Wednesday: a bit warmer and sunny.  A light breeze in the afternoon with gusts to 12 mph. Thursday and Friday: warm and sunny with light wind.  Good spraying weather? Saturday: transition day.  Probably warm with increasing clouds. A bit breezy. Possible shower. Sunday through next week: cooler, showery and breezy. Could be a rather wet day somewhere in this period, but too far in the future to have any confidence. Here’s the wind forecast for Deer Park for the next ten days.  And here’s the precipitation chances for Deer Park.  If you need a mo...

Get ready for a chilly night tonight. That cold wind today is bringing in some extremely dry air.  Dew points are into the single digits. Once the sun sets this evening, the wind should drop off allowing the temperatures to quickly drop into the 20s. A northeast breeze should develop overnight, but those areas sheltered from that wind direction could drop into the teens.  Tuesday: Increasing clouds but a bit warmer than today. A light northeast breeze, mainly in the morning.  Wednesday: Rain developing by late morning.  A break in the rain during the late afternoon or early evening, but then rain restarting around 8pm and continuing overnight.  Thursday: lots of rain showers, possibly mixed with some wet snow. Breezy with winds gusting to 20 mph.  Storm total rainfall around 0.50”-0.70”   Friday: Dry and warmer. Light morning wind, with afternoon gusts to 15 mph.  Saturday through Monday:  Sunny with warm temperatures and light winds. Afterno...