Mainly dry Monday, turning wet Tuesday

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - High temps in Portland topped out a hair warmer than we anticipated- in the mid 40s. It was mostly cloudy but we did see a couple light showers pass through, resulting in some trace amounts of rainfall around the area. There’s a chance we see another brief shower this evening, but we should be drying out heading into the work week.

Monday will be cloudy and mainly dry, with high temperatures expected around 40 degrees. A couple models want to bring us a brief rain shower Monday afternoon/early evening, which could result in mixed precipitation in the Gorge, but shouldn’t cause any disruptions. Any precipitation looks pretty light until we get to the end of the week.

We were watching Tuesday closely for the possibility of lowland snow mixing in with the rain showers, but that isn’t appearing very likely anymore. Models are indicating it won’t be quite cold enough west of the Cascades, predicting trace amounts to a quarter inch of rainfall for the western valleys and greater rain totals along the coast.

By midweek we’ll start to really feel that colder air streaming into the area from the system that’s sliding southeast into the central/eastern U.S. Overnight lows will be back down in the 20s Wednesday morning. Wednesday (also the Winter Solstice) will be dry but chilly, teeing us up for what could be a very eventful few days before Christmas.

A warmer, wetter system approaches Thursday night/Friday morning, and even though our snow levels will be high (likely above pass level), that cold Arctic air will still be trapped or even still streaming through the Gorge closer to the ground. That sets us up for freezing rain- when water droplets freeze on contact with the frozen ground and other surfaces- through the Gorge and likely at least part of the metro. Right now, one model is indicating the ice accumulation could be fairly widespread, which would lead to downed limbs and power outages. That’s why we have set First Alert Weather Days for Thursday and Friday. High temperatures those days will only reach the upper 20s/low 30s. Travel through the Gorge will be difficult if this setup holds. Stay tuned to the forecast as we iron out details closer to the event.

Easterly flow through the Gorge looks to continue through Christmas Eve, which means as long as there as still showers, there could be more freezing rain in some areas of the Gorge. Anywhere not under the influence of the chilly east wind (west metro and further south in the valleys) could be in the 50s Saturday and just see scattered rain showers.

Christmas day looks warmer and showery, with high temperatures in the upper 40s.