SHORT TERM
Tonight through Sunday Night...Typical summer weather today and through the weekend. Broad, weak troughing aloft with stable westerly flow across the region. Some light haze from nearby wildfire smoke, mainly east of I-5 will push back east of the Cascades tonight as another surge of onshore flow moves across the area. The main exception will be where near surface smoke is confined to the immediate vicinity of ongoing fires in the Linn and Lane County Cascades where LRAPA has issued an Air Quality Advisory through Saturday afternoon. Afternoon highs expected in the lower to mid 80s for the interior lowlands. Morning clouds from marine layer intrusions into the inland valleys each night will help moderate overnight temps a few degrees. Otherwise, mostly sunny skies continue through Sunday. Breezy conditions will continue through the central Columbia River Gorge Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening, with a renewed onshore push perhaps allowing for slightly stronger winds gusting to around 25-35 mph in parts of Hood River County. /DH

LONG TERM
Monday through Friday...Still monitoring chances for rain early next week. Models continue to speed up the timing of the frontal system as a more well defined shortwave embedded within the large scale trough crosses the region. Rain is likely to begin as early as Monday morning for coastal areas, gradually spreading inland through Monday night. PWAT values peak Monday afternoon around 1.5 inches of precipitable water according to the ECMWF ensembles. Regardless, ensemble and probabilistic guidance continue to be rather bullish on the prospect of at least measurable rain across the area, depicting around a 70 percent chance for northern coastal areas and about a 50/50 shot for the Willamette Valley.
Meanwhile, the chance for as much as a quarter inch of rain sits around 40-50 percent on the coast and 20-25 percent from Eugene to Portland. Also expect slightly cooler temps again Monday into Tuesday as this system crosses the region accompanied by increased cloud cover and highs closer tot he upper 70s in the inland valleys.

WPC ensemble clusters continue depict a ridge of high pressure developing over the western CONUS and a subsequent warming trend mid to late next week. Guidance has backed off slightly for highs next Wednesday, keeping temps closer to the mid 80s for one more day before the chances to reach 90 degrees jump up to around 70-80 percent in the inland valleys by Thursday and remaining there through the end of next week. DH/CB

AVIATION
Currently VFR and clear skies throughout most of the airspace. Expect VFR conditions to remain for inland terminals throughout the TAF period, with clouds around FL045 developing around 12-14Z Saturday. Chances of CIGs lowering to MVFR are around 10-30% between 12-19Z Saturday. Otherwise, expect sustained northwesterly winds around 7-12 kt with gusts up to 20 kt, lasting until 06-07Z Saturday.

Coastal terminals will begin to lower to MVFR/IFR CIGs around 03-06Z Saturday, likely persisting through the TAF period (20-30% chance of IFR and 70-90% chance MVFR). Otherwise, expect sustained northwesterly winds around 13-18 kt with gusts up to 25 kt, lasting until 06-07Z Saturday.

It should be noted that wildfires burning in the Central OR Cascades (east of KEUG) as well as within the Columbia River Gorge (east of KPDX and KTTD) could result in some slant range visibility issues at times as smoke/haze spreads east of the Cascades. However, predominately west to east flow should mitigate these impacts.

PDX AND APPROACHES...VFR conditions and clear skies throughout most of the period. Sustained northwesterly winds at 5-10 kt with gusts up to 18 kt lasting until 05-06Z Saturday.
-JH

MARINE
A weak upper level trough will slowly meander eastward through the weekend. Currently, expect persistent north/northwest winds with low-end Small Craft gusts, primarily in our central and southern waters. Threat will subside late tonight (Friday) and seas will remain around 4 to 6 ft thereafter. Overall benign conditions through the weekend with a southerly wind shift expected late Sunday/early Monday.
-JH

PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

OR...None.
WA...None.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory until 2 AM PDT Saturday for PZZ252-253-272- 273.