Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Pendleton, OR
Issued by NWS Pendleton, OR
760 FXUS66 KPDT 061201 AFDPDT Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pendleton OR 401 AM PST Fri Mar 6 2026 .DISCUSSION... The surface featured a trough across eastern WA while high pressure was nosing in from the west across the Oregon coast into SW Idaho. Fairly deep moisture can be seen across all 3 levels of GOES Water vapor imagery as composite reflectivity and METARs tell the storm of elevated showers across the Kittitas Valley and ran at the pass levels given the high snow levels right now. The HREF trends show a ramp up of hourly precipitation across the Cascades Crest with a strong rain shadow to the leeward side. Late morning rain and snow showers will also be found across the southern Blue mountains with snow along the highest points of the Northern Blue Mountains. A warmup is in store for the relatively dry period Saturday and Sunday as the Yakima Valley into the Columbia Basin, central Oregon and John Day basin warm though the 60s in the afternoons. Sunday night will bring the colder air still with rain/snow constrained to the mountain zones and adjacent foothills. A pattern change will ramp up precipitation chances areawide beyond Monday as both the EC and GFS mean versions of the AR portal show a zonal 300-500 kg/ms IVT signal moving well into eastern WA/OR. By Friday morning the Upper slopes of the WA Cascades could see a couple of feet of snow with the 25th percentile of the NBM showing about 1-2 feet and the 75th percentile in the 30 to 40 inches camp. A much larger uncertainty on the lower end of the range of outcomes for the Oregon Cascade slopes which while, the 75th percentiles still produces anywhere form one to three feet of snow, the 25th percentile only offer sub advisory level amounts (a few inches in many cases). && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SATURDAY/... Ridgetop showers are expected to linger through the day as surface high pressure nudges into the region. MVFR cigs can develop this afternoon in -RA at DLS/YKM/ALW/PSC while surface winds range from light and variable at BDN and RDM, to Westley and gusty through DLS and foothills of the Blues. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... PDT 53 44 63 43 / 20 40 10 0 ALW 53 45 63 47 / 30 50 20 0 PSC 59 45 67 47 / 20 30 0 0 YKM 56 42 66 40 / 20 30 0 0 HRI 57 45 65 47 / 20 30 0 0 ELN 50 41 57 42 / 30 40 10 10 RDM 50 35 61 34 / 20 20 0 0 LGD 48 40 60 38 / 30 60 30 0 GCD 46 38 58 35 / 20 30 20 0 DLS 53 46 62 45 / 40 50 10 0 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...None. OR...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...71 AVIATION...71