275
FXUS66 KPDT 032331
AFDPDT

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
431 PM PDT Wed Jun 3 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Light showers continue through this afternoon with isolated
  storms possibly developing today.

- Breezy winds developing in the Simcoe Highlands and Kittitas
  Valley today, with winds peaking Friday.

- Cooling trend through Saturday, warming early next week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...Radar currently shows light showers across the
area that will continue through the rest of the afternoon hours.
Parts of the Southern Blue Mountains are seeing clearer
conditions than earlier this morning, allowing for daytime
heating to build into the area. This allows CAPE values to
develop in the 250-500 J/kg range with 30-35 knots of 0-6km
shear, bringing slight (10-20 percent) chances of an isolated
thunderstorm this afternoon. Not expecting any of these storms
to be severe, but heavy rain and pea size hail may impact areas
where the strongest storms are present.

An oncoming shortwave with an embedded cold front will push
through the area Thursday/Friday, allowing pressure gradients
to tighten and bring breezy to windy conditions across the
Simcoe Highlands, Kittitas Valley, and the Columbia Basin.
Higher winds are expected across the Simcoe Highlands and
Kittitas Valley (70-90% chance) though wind values appear to be
sub-advisory level with more common values of wind gusts staying
at 25 to 35 mph (50-70% chance). NBM does advertise 50-70%
chances of exceeding wind advisory Friday, but confidence is
not great enough to warrant a wind advisory yet. The oncoming
trough will bring moderate rain and snow showers across the
Cascades Friday and Saturday, but will leave most of the area
east of it dry due to rain shadowing. Dew points and relative
humidity will remain dry and, with combination of the expected
breezy conditions Friday, bring elevated fire weather concerns
through parts of the Columbia Basin (see `FIRE WEATHER` below).
Temperatures will cool down to the mid 60s to low 70s in lower
elevation areas as a result of the systems passage. By Sunday,
highs will hover in the mid to high 70s and be stable through at
least through mid-next week (40-60% chance).

&&

.AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/...VFR conditions to
prevail through the period. Light radar returns are currently
moving through the Columbia Basin, but little if no precip is
currently making it to the ground according to area cameras and
station observations. Nonetheless, a prob30 for light showers
were included at sites PDT/ALW through early this evening.
Breezy winds 12-20kts with gusts up to around 30kts will
continue at sites PDT/RDM/BDN through this evening, becoming
light through the remainder of the period. Site DLS will see
these breezy winds through the period. Sites YKM/ALW/PSC will
remain mostly light, with sites YKM/ALW seeing a gust up to
20kts this evening. Lawhorn/82

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...Elevated fire weather concerns expected this
Friday across parts of FWZ WA691 (Columbia Basin of Washington).
Concerns arise with the combination of breezy to windy and low
relative humidity conditions developing. Minimum relative
humidities will dry out in the 20-25% range Thursday and Friday.
Breezy wind gusts will develop Friday in combination with the
low relative humidity values, resulting in the potential for
elevated fire weather potential.

&&

.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...
PDT  47  75  47  73 /  10   0   0   0
ALW  53  76  52  75 /  10   0   0   0
PSC  52  80  49  78 /  10   0   0   0
YKM  48  80  47  75 /   0   0   0   0
HRI  50  78  50  75 /   0   0   0   0
ELN  45  72  44  66 /   0   0   0   0
RDM  37  76  40  74 /   0   0   0   0
LGD  44  74  43  76 /  20   0   0   0
GCD  42  77  42  81 /  10   0   0   0
DLS  53  77  52  71 /   0   0   0   0

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...Wind Advisory until midnight PDT tonight for WAZ026-521.
OR...None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...95
AVIATION...82
FIRE WEATHER...95