


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Pendleton, OR
Issued by NWS Pendleton, OR
581 FXUS66 KPDT 092055 AFDPDT Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pendleton OR 155 PM PDT Wed Jul 9 2025 .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Friday...Satellite imagery this afternoon shows a cold front passing over western WA and northwestern OR, while small cumulus fields are starting to develop along the higher terrain of the eastern mountains. Today, an upper trough with an attendant cold front will continue to sweep across the PacNW and exit the region by tonight. Convective activity will pick up ahead of the trough axis through this afternoon, with any developing storms tapping into modest surface instability and low level lapse rates, allowing for isolated thunderstorms to develop mainly across the higher terrain of Grant, southern Union, and Wallowa counties. The best chances are going to be just south of Grant county, where a Red Flag Warning is in effect through this evening. In the lower elevations and through the Cascade Gaps, the approach and subsequent passage of the cold front will result in breezy to locally gusty conditions developing this afternoon and evening. The strongest winds (20-30mph with gusts up to 45mph) will develop through the Cascade gaps and persist into this evening. The Columbia Basin will also see winds around 20-25mph with gusts up to 40 mph, with a Red Flag Warning in effect through this evening as winds are strong enough to overcome the impacts from relatively higher RHs this afternoon. Tomorrow, the upper trough will be well east of the region, with a weak northwest flow aloft. Conditions will remain cool but dry across the forecast area with breezy conditions through the Cascade gaps. Thursday evening through Friday, transient ridging will slide into the PacNW, with a warming and drying trend that will last into into early next week. Lawhorn/82 .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday...Behind the exit of a transient ridge early Saturday, broad upper ridging will develop over the northeast Pacific and extend into the PacNW. Ensemble cluster solutions are in great agreement of this upper ridge sticking around the area through the middle of next week, though agreement decreases Tuesday into Wednesday as to where the ridge axis will be positioned. Otherwise, the only other feature to note will be a shortwave trough attempting to ride over the upper ridge Sunday, which could bring increased breezy conditions through the Cascade gaps. Overall confidence is mod-high (65-80%) that dry conditions will prevail through the extended forecast with a warming trend into the weekend. Locally breezy winds will develop in the afternoons (confidence 60-80%), with strongest winds on Sunday with the upper trough passage (confidence 50-70%). Confidence wanes into the middle of next week with the forecasted temperatures (confidence 30-60%) owing to disagreement on the position of the ridge axis. Lawhorn/82 && .AVIATION...Previous Discussion...18Z TAFs...VFR conditions to prevail through the period. A cold front passing through the area will bring some occasional few-bkn cloud decks above 10kft AGL through this evening. Winds will increase to 12-20kts with gusts to around 25kts at sites RDM/BDN/YKM/ALW/PSC this afternoon, becoming 12kts or less after 4Z-5Z. At sites DLS/PDT, winds will be increasing to 17-25kts with gusts up to 35kts this afternoon, with winds decreasing to around 12kts at site PDT by 8Z, and winds 12-20kts with gusts to around 30kts at site DLS after 4Z. Lawhorn/82 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 60 87 58 92 / 0 0 0 0 ALW 64 87 62 92 / 0 0 0 0 PSC 61 90 58 94 / 10 0 0 0 YKM 59 87 60 93 / 10 0 0 0 HRI 62 90 59 95 / 0 0 0 0 ELN 59 82 57 92 / 10 0 0 0 RDM 50 85 48 88 / 0 0 0 0 LGD 57 82 56 87 / 10 0 0 0 GCD 54 85 52 88 / 20 0 0 0 DLS 62 84 61 94 / 10 0 0 0 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...Red Flag Warning until 10 PM PDT this evening for ORZ691. Red Flag Warning until 11 PM PDT this evening for ORZ698. WA...Red Flag Warning until 10 PM PDT this evening for WAZ691. && $$ SHORT TERM...82 LONG TERM....82 AVIATION...82