Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Yakima, WA

DISCUSSION
Today through Wednesday: Satellite imagery this afternoon shows a shortwave trough with an attendant surface low just offshore the PacNW, with cloudy conditions across much of the region. Area radar shows the western half of WA/OR covered in showers, with shower activity extending to the east slopes of the Cascades, eastern Columbia River Gorge, and central OR.

A shortwave trough and surface low will continue to swing across the PacNW today through tonight. A rain shield will spread north and east from the Cascade crest through the remainder of this afternoon and evening, with isolated to scattered showers developing overnight. CAMs continue to indicate weak surface based instability developing across the eastern OR mountains this afternoon will also result in low chances (5-15%) of isolated thunderstorms. In the Columbia Basin, breezy winds will develop ahead of the precipitation late this afternoon, with wind gusts generally remaining less than 35 mph.

Tuesday, shower activity will retreat mostly to the mountain areas and Blue mountain foothills as northwest flow aloft develops behind the trough axis exit. Weak instability will develop across the WA Cascade crest, far northeast OR, and southeast WA late in the morning and afternoon Tuesday, resulting in a slight chance (15-20%) of isolated thunderstorms.
However, thunderstorm activity is expected to diminish late in the afternoon as the trough lifts into MT. Otherwise, widespread breezy southwest to west winds (15-25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph) will develop tonight through tomorrow as a cold front boundary passage tightens pressure gradients across the forecast area. In the lower elevations, the strongest winds (sustained winds 25-35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph) are expected to develop across portions of north central OR, the eastern Columbia River Gorge, Simcoe Highlands, OR Columbia Basin, OR Blue Mtn foothills, and the Kittitas valley.

By Wednesday, the trough will slide further east of the region while upper level ridging will develop over the northeast Pacific. Any lingering shower activity over the mountains will diminish by the afternoon as the region comes under the influence of the upper ridge offshore. breezy to locally breezy winds will continue into Wednesday evening, but will become light Wednesday night into Thursday.

Thursday through Sunday: Late in the work week through the weekend, there is great agreement amongst ensemble guidance in warmer and drier conditions developing as upper level ridging continues to build offshore the PacNW. That said, uncertainty does grow in the amplitude and position of the ridge offshore.
While ensemble cluster solutions all keep the region dry through this period, about half of the members keep the upper ridge further offshore with a northerly flow into the intermountain PacNW. These solutions also favor a shortwave trough to clip the region, which would increase winds in the lower elevations and bring elevated fire weather concerns. The other half of solutions keep the ridge axis much closer with northwest flow over the region. This solution would keep the trend of light winds, but would favor increased warming across the forecast area over the weekend. Speaking of temperatures, the NBM shows a 40-60% chance of areas of the Columbia Basin/Gorge and Yakima valley reaching 90 degrees Saturday, with a widespread 40-75% chance of 90 degrees across most lower elevation locations Sunday. Lawhorn/82

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z WEDNESDAY/

An upper level low spreading across the area with a surface attendant cold front is bringing scattered rain showers to the area. Probably the most impactful weather for the terminals will be the winds resulting from this system through Tuesday.
The time window for the strongest west southwesterly gusty winds will begin early Tuesday morning through Tuesday afternoon. Any risk of IFR ceilings looks tied to the higher terrain and not near the lower elevation terminals going forward overnight (High confidence 90%) and likewise with respect to visibility, the ensembles all point to keeping chances for 3SM or lower vsby relegated to higher mountain terrain. Look for occasional showers overnight with limited to no flight category impacts.

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs
PDT 49 68 43 69 / 90 10 10 10 ALW 52 67 47 69 / 100 60 20 20 PSC 48 73 44 75 / 80 10 0 0 YKM 48 70 42 74 / 90 10 0 0 HRI 48 70 44 72 / 80 10 0 0 ELN 45 63 39 65 / 100 40 10 0 RDM 43 65 33 68 / 40 0 0 0 LGD 46 63 41 64 / 90 50 30 40 GCD 43 67 38 65 / 80 10 0 0 DLS 53 67 49 70 / 90 30 10 0

PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
WA...Wind Advisory from 2 AM to 11 PM PDT Tuesday for WAZ024-521.
Wind Advisory from 8 AM to 11 PM PDT Tuesday for WAZ026.
OR...Wind Advisory from 2 AM to 11 PM PDT Tuesday for ORZ041-044- 508.
Wind Advisory from 8 AM to 11 PM PDT Tuesday for ORZ507.
Wind Advisory until 5 PM PDT Tuesday for ORZ510.