A showery & cool Christmas Day, but freezing rain only in the Gorge

Merry Christmas from the First Alert Weather Team! Today promises to uneventful weather-wise west of the Cascades; back to the typical gray and showery weather.

We’re waking up to showers and areas of fog this morning, a gray Christmas morning. Those showers should taper off quite a bit during the morning hours and it’ll be drier the 2nd half of the day. Areas of fog will dissipate by midday as well. Even though the sub-freezing air is gone, a cool easterly wind continues to keep the metro area cooler than other parts of western Oregon and southwest Washington

Some cool air remains trapped IN the Columbia River Gorge, but temperatures even there will climb a few degrees above freezing today. The result should be relatively good travel along I-84 with just a few icy spots, mainly this morning. Afternoon freeway conditions will be bare and wet. All Cascade passes remain snow-free through Monday night as a warm airmass sits over the Pacific Northwest.

Two very wet Pacific weather systems arrive to start the work week. We expect rain at times Monday through Tuesday, with up to 1.50″ in the western valleys and 3-5″ in the Coast Range and Cascades. This won’t be enough to cause widespread flooding, but creeks and small streams will be running at bankfull early this week. A strong storm offshore will be sending plenty of strong wind along the coastline too. Gusts reach 55-70 mph along the coastline Monday night and Tuesday, and 35-45 mph in the western valleys Tuesday. Expect a few scattered power outages at that time.

With lots of rain headed for the Columbia River Gorge, concerns turn to more freezing rain. It’s a First Alert Weather Day out there as temperatures slowly climb to or slightly above freezing at the lowest elevations. Temperatures will be near freezing tonight and Monday as rain passes over the very thin layer of cold air. Some freezing rain is possible, but mainly above river level in the Hood River, White Salmon, & Wind River valleys. Up to 1″ icing is possible in those areas that remain near/below freezing.