Looking for haying weather

 June started off with a week of warm, dry weather.  But as we expected, moisture moved into the area for a couple of wet, cool days.  So can we start thinking about first cutting weather?

The forecast is going to start off a short warm and dry spell.  Temperatures are expected to surge back into the mid and upper 80s through Tuesday with mostly sunny skies.  This is complements of strong high pressure that is nosing into western Canada and the Pac NW from the Pacific.  You can see the area of dark red shading.

But this pattern doesn't last long, as a cooler weather system dives down from Alaska and sweeps by our area late Tuesday and Wednesday.

These kinds of weather systems that follow this track usually bring more wind than rain.  Tuesday afternoon is expected to be rather breezy before this weather wave arrives.  The computer models are showing some light showers for Tuesday and Wednesday.  But the chances are pretty low, only 20 to 30%.  Here's one computer model's forecast.  Best chance of showers will be north of Newport, as well as in the Idaho Panhandle mountains.

After this Tuesday/Wednesday weather, the pattern becomes a zonal jet stream over the Northwest.  This pattern will mean cooler weather (highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s).   Don't be surprised if a couple of locations dip into the upper 30s on a morning. More importantly, it's a very dry and breezy pattern.  Dew points will be in the 30s, while the wind will gust to 25 mph each afternoon. Don't expect a heavy morning dew with this pattern like we've seen the past couple of mornings.

Looking forward to next week, all of the computers are expecting a cool trough of low pressure to develop over the western US.  If this pattern comes true, the weather could be cooler (60s and 70s) and showery next week.

The Climate Prediction Center agrees, with the 8-14 day outlook.

So to summarize, we'll have a few warm dry days early this week, followed by a breezy weather system with a 30% chance of showers, mainly near the BC border and the Panhandle mountains.  This will be followed by mild temperatures and dry breezy afternoons.  In other words, this could be a good week for making hay, but mid-week showers could spoil the week.  If you do decide to cut early this week, you'll want to make sure to have your hay put up by about Friday, as precipitation chances increase quite a bit next weekend. 

The image below shows the percent of computer models that are forecasting rain.  While the chances are pretty low this week, they're much higher next week.  So this may be the only hay weather window for the next two weeks, but it's not a guarantee of 5 dry days.

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If you are looking to cut hay or need a weather forecast for any event, please email me at inlandnorthwesthayweather@gmail.com  I won't sell or share your personal or contact information.