FXUS66 KPQR 191350 CCA AFDPQR Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Portland OR 650 AM PDT Fri Jul 19 2024 .SYNOPSIS...Above-average temperatures continue as high pressure strengthens through Saturday. Chance of light showers, mainly along the coast late Sat night to Sunday morning. Then, upper level troughing brings cooling trend early next week, with temperatures closer to seasonable normals. && .SHORT TERM...Today through Sunday...Water vapor satellite imagery shows weak upper level shortwave troughing sliding northeastward over the Pacific NW this morning. Should continue to deepen the marine layer along the coast. Heights rebuild over the region this afternoon, so expect temperatures to warm again to around 90 degrees for the interior lowlands. The upper level ridge will amplify over the region on Saturday while 850 mb temperatures warm to around 22- 24 deg C. Inland highs are expected to reach the mid 90s (60-80% probability), while highs near Hood River will push triple digits (50-60% probability). This may lead to localized areas of major HeatRisk from the Portland metro through the Columbia River Gorge. Upper level ridge begins to shift eastward on Sunday. Models are showing better agreement of a negatively tilted shortwave trough lifting north over the coastal waters Sat night into Sunday morning, albeit rather weak. Bumped up chances for showers across the area (best chances along the coast), but have held off on mentioning thunder as both NBM and SREF probabilities max out around 10%. That said, elevated convection still possible so will need to continue to monitor the situation. Temperatures Sunday afternoon expected to be around 10 degrees cooler than Saturday, along with stronger onshore winds. /DH && .LONG TERM...Monday through Thursday...Temperatures are very likely to trend cooler near seasonable normals early next week. Upper level troughing nudges into the Pacific NW on Monday with strong onshore flow. Marine stratus more likely to push inland Monday morning with highs topping out around 80 degrees. WPC cluster analysis remains in good agreement with model ensembles showing upper level low centered near Haida Gwaii on Tuesday, slowly shifting east into British Columbia by mid-week. NBM guidance suggests temps will likely trend closer to the mid-80s as near seasonal normals and dry weather persists next week. /DH && .AVIATION...High pressure remains over the region, along with mild southwest flow aloft, will maintain VFR under clear skies. Onshore low level flow will maintain moist air mass on the coast into the Coast Range valleys, with widespread IFR marine stratus, which will continue to obscure terrain below 1500 ft this am. Pockets of IFR stratus also will be in Cowlitz Valley and Lower Columbia River Valley as far inland as Ridgefield across to southeastern Clark County until 17Z. Stratus will burn back to the beaches by late morning, but will surge back onshore after sunset. PDX AND APPROACHES...Little change, with clear skies under high pressure and mild southwest flow aloft. Like past few days, areas of IFR stratus expected across Clark County down to around KTTD from 12Z to 16Z, but should stay too far north to affect KPDX. But, will be close. For now, will just have SCT IFR clouds for KPDX with coming 12Z TAF. /Rockey && .MARINE...High pressure offshore will gradually strengthen today into this weekend, and with thermal low pressure on south Oregon coast, will see return of north winds on the waters. As pressure gradients tighten on Saturday, will see gusts to 25 kt at for Sat and Sun, mainly in the afternoons/evenings from Cascade Head southward. Seas mostly stay in the 3 to 5 ft range, with a mix of variable period swell, but with gusty winds, will have locally choppy steep seas to 6 or 7 ft. Again, this mainly for areas south of Newport. /Rockey && .PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...None. WA...None. PZ...Dense Fog Advisory until 10 AM PDT this morning for PZZ251>253. Small Craft Advisory from noon Saturday to midnight PDT Saturday night for PZZ251>253. Small Craft Advisory from noon Saturday to midnight PDT Sunday night for PZZ271>273. && $$ www.weather.gov/portland Interact with us via social media: www.facebook.com/NWSPortland www.twitter.com/NWSPortland