By Rod Hill on 2014-12-11
A low pressure center tracking south to north along the Oregon coast Thursday could bring hours of strong south winds to the Willamette valley. The National Weather Service map shows the high wind risk area in brown. Strong south winds will be possible for the valley between 12 noon and 8:00 p.m. Winds gusts will likely reach 40 mph across much of the metro. Winds of 45-60 mph will be most likely near the Coast Range & Cascade foothills. As the low nears Astoria, strong east winds near the gorge may blow to 50 mph or higher. The low center, seen on the map Thursday morning, will push north of Astoria by 8:00 pm, turning winds to the west and bringing calming winds during the evening. Downed trees and power outages will be possible.
If south winds greater than 40 mph develop Thursday, tomorrow would add to an already windy fall season. Consider the EF-1 tornado that hit Longview back on October 23, with 86-100 mph winds. Portland winds peaked at 49 mph from the south on October 25th and east winds at PDX reached 54 mph on November 11th. East gorge winds reached 80 mph at Crown Point, on November 16h.
Residents living in east metro counties have seen gusty east winds 30-45 mph for 11 days in a row, counting today and saw a stronger 11 day stretch November 10-20th. A trough of low pressure aloft, producing a southwesterly flow pattern allowing surface lows to track near the Oregon coast and cold Canadian air to our east have set up the persistent east wind episodes.
Rod Hill
Dry November wipes out October surplus