Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Oakesdale, WA

SYNOPSIS
Today many areas will see lighter winds, except near the Cascades and central Washington where some breezy conditions linger, but these decline later today into tonight. A weekend cold front will bring breezy to gusty winds across central Washington and a return for increased fire weather concerns. Little to no precipitation is expected through the middle of next week. Temperatures remain warm and conditions dry through the next week, with Friday and early next week the warmest periods.

DISCUSSION

HOT, DRY AND BREEZY CONDITIONS LATE WEEK

Today through Friday: The weather will be relatively quiet over the next couple days, as weak high pressure builds into the region ahead of a weekend trough. As the ridge builds in the jet stream shifts north and pressure gradients slacken. Winds will remain a bit breezy near the Cascades and down the Okanogan Valley this morning, then slacken. Winds will hold on longest over the Okanogan Valley. Gusts of 15-20 mph will common, with higher gusts in that Okanogan Valley up to 30 mph or so. Winds will be mostly from the north to northwest. Winds will then be relatively light until later Friday afternoon when the next system start to approach. Winds turn southerly near the Cascades and central WA and speeds increase again to around 7 to 15 mph with gusts near 20 to 25 mph. Temperatures trend milder over the next couple days, with largely 80s today and mid-80s to mid-90s Friday. Lows tonight will be in the mid-40s and 50s. Friday will see minor to moderate HeatRisk, with that moderate risk over the deeper basin and L-C Valley and near lee Cascade valleys.

Friday night through Sunday: Low pressure currently near the Gulf of AK will be moving on the area by the start of this period. The low tracks across southern BC into AB into Saturday, dragging another dry cold front across the region. The jet stream sags closer to the northern border but it isn't a strong as the jet has been over the area (like the one that brought the strong dry cold front this past Tuesday). There will be some risk for showers near the northeast WA and far north ID counties later Saturday into Saturday evening and again Sunday afternoon. A few embedded t-storms can't be ruled out on Sunday afternoon either. Right now the risk is low, but as can happen with these systems models could be underestimating the shower potential with any instability.
With all that laid out, overall most of the Inland NW will stay solidly dry.

So that brings us to the next feature of the system: winds. These will continue to be breezy/gusty near the Cascades and central WA Friday evening out of the south to southwest, turning more westerly overnight into early Saturday. Meanwhile winds forecast to increase over the remainder of the area Saturday morning and peak across the later Saturday afternoon into evening. Wind start of southwest away from the Cascades and central WA, then gradually shift to northwest later Saturday and eventually winds across most of the area turn northerly. Speeds are forecast to average between 10 to 20 mph, except near the Cascades and central WA by late afternoon and evening where they will blow at 20 to 30 mph.
Gusts are forecast to be between 20 to 30 mph, locally up to 40 mph near the Cascades and central WA. Winds slacken some heading into Sunday, but still remain breezy/gusty in the Okanogan Valley southward in the favored northerly flow with speeds of 10-20 mph and gusts of 20-30 mph. Temperatures will remain warm to hot this period, only cooling 2 to 5 degrees over Friday, and minimum RH values will be in the teens to low 20s.

As early as Friday night and continuing into Saturday through Saturday evening, fire weather conditions will be elevated to locally critical. Given the antecedent conditions, including drying fuels and recent wildfire starts, this period will monitored closely for the potential need for fire weather highlights due to the hot, dry and windy set-up.

Monday through Wednesday: A dirty-ridge builds into the region, with weak waves crossing through it during the period. There will be occasional clouds, with cumulus build-ups in the afternoon and transient middle to high clouds. The forecast remains dry, but we will have to keep an eye on Wednesday as some guidance shows a potential for some showers near the eastern mountains. Winds will be occasionally breezy, particularly near the Cascades/Okanogan Valley, but not as strong as of late with one exception on Wednesday. That will be another period to watch for elevated fire weather conditions with winds and low RH. Temperatures will be on the rise through the period, with Tuesday being the warmest day with highs in the upper 80s and 90s and a few spots pushing near 100 in the deeper basin. Each will have a minor to moderate HeatRisk, with Tuesday again the warmest of days. /Solveig

AVIATION
06Z TAFs: VFR conditions expected with a ridge of high pressure nearby. Expect occasional middle to high clouds. Winds will be locally breezy near the Cascades between about 06-14Z, with occasional gusts near 20-20kts near KEAT. Otherwise this area will join the remainder of the TAF sites and inland NW will lower winds heading into Thursday.

FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: High confidence in VFR conditions at all terminals through the forecast period.
Brief visibility degradations to 5 or 6SM at KSFF will be possible overnight and during the early morning hours due to a fire burning nearby, but confidence is low.
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Confidence descriptors: Low - Less than a 30 percent chance Moderate - 30 to 70 percent chance High - Greater than a 70 percent chance

For additional probabilistic information for NWS Spokane airports, please refer to the Aviation Dashboard on our webpage: https:/ www.weather.gov/otx/avndashboard

Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs
Spokane 84 52 86 56 85 54 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 81 53 85 57 83 53 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pullman 80 50 85 54 80 50 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston 87 57 92 60 88 56 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 83 48 87 53 84 50 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sandpoint 79 51 83 54 82 51 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kellogg 79 51 85 55 81 52 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moses Lake 88 56 92 59 88 55 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 87 62 91 63 85 59 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 86 56 90 58 87 56 / 0 0 0 0 0 0

OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
WA...None.
ID...None.