Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Pendleton, OR

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793
FXUS66 KPDT 300518
AFDPDT

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
1018 PM PDT Fri Aug 29 2025

Updated Aviation Discussion

.AVIATION...06Z TAFs...VFR conditions to prevail through the
period. However, smoke from regional fires may produce reductions
in vsby/cigs at sites RDM/BDN at times, though confidence in
time/duration was too low (<25%) to include in the TAF at this
time. Winds will be light, 12kts or less, with diurnally driven
wind shifts through the period. Lawhorn/82

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 347 PM PDT Fri Aug 29 2025/

.DISCUSSION...High pressure will begin to build into the Pacific
Northwest today. As it does, a large area of low pressure of the
coast will move eastward and make its closest approach Sunday into
Monday before being pushed westward again. Strong high pressure
will then build back for much of the upcoming week.

There is enough CAPE and moisture today for isolated showers or
thunderstorms, mainly over the mountains of eastern Oregon. After
these dissipate this evening, dry and unseasonably hot conditions
are forecast for the holiday weekend and into next week. A weak
short wave could bring a low chance (20-30 percent) of showers
around Tuesday or Wednesday mainly in central Oregon and the
higher terrain, but models differ on the occurrence.

However, the main story remains very hot, and possibly record-
breaking heat for some areas especially Monday through Wednesday
of next week. High temperatures should climb into the mid to upper
90s, with locations in the Columbia Basin, Foothills of the Blue
Mountains, Columbia Gorge and Yakima Valley topping out around or
just above 100 degrees. Temperatures will be 10 to 15 and possibly
as high as 20 degrees above normal for early September.

HeatRisk values will be mostly Moderate on Monday, with some
embedded areas of Major. By Tuesday, There is a large swath of
Moderate HeatRisk, with many low elevation areas having Major
HeatRisk. Wednesday is similar to Tuesday, though the areal
coverage of Major HeatRisk spreads a bit and some areas of the
Gorge and Basin have Extreme HeatRisk, and Thursday is similar to
Wednesday, especially for the Major and Extreme areas.

Some potential caveats include cloud cover or smoke that would
hold temperatures down, and of course, the shorter days in early
September.

By Friday, there should be a slight cool down, at least.

NBM probabilities of 100+ temperatures in these areas are 60
to 80 percent Monday through Wednesday and the ECMWF EFI generally
has values of 0.8 to 0.9 with the Columbia Basin in 0.9 to 0.95.
for anomalies.

Low RH values of less than 20 percent and in some areas less than
15 percent will prevail due to the very hot temperatures. There
will be diurnal breezes each day, but overall, strong winds are
not expected. However, with the high pressure, and the low RH
values will have to watch for any enhanced conditions that could
develop especially if things should become more unstable around
midweek.


&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT  61  94  63  95 /   0   0   0   0
ALW  66  95  68  97 /   0   0   0   0
PSC  61  95  62  96 /   0   0   0   0
YKM  60  95  64  95 /   0   0   0   0
HRI  61  95  63  96 /   0   0   0   0
ELN  57  92  59  93 /   0   0   0   0
RDM  51  90  51  91 /  10   0   0   0
LGD  56  92  58  93 /  20   0   0   0
GCD  55  93  61  95 /  20   0   0   0
DLS  63  94  64  93 /   0   0   0   0

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...None.
WA...None.
&&

$$

SHORT TERM...77
LONG TERM....77
AVIATION...82