Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Strong Storm coming

There is a strong storm system that will move into northwest Oregon and southwest Washington late this evening and Wednesday (Jun 1-2), that will produce very heavy rainfall during the next 36 hours. We decided to do an email-type weather briefing in-lieu of a webinar for this event since no mainstem river flooding is expected at this time.

However, this storm has tapped into some sub-tropical moisture and has some characteristics of a strong winter storm that may cause localized rural and urban street flooding and sharp rises on smaller creeks, rivers and streams. Strong winds (gusts to 50 mph on Coast and 25-35 mph in valleys) are also possible with this storm.

We want to bring attention to this storm for several reasons listed below:

(1) Unusual storm for springtime (winter-like characteristics).
(2) Heavy rainfall potential (2 to 5 inches in coast/coast range/cascades, 1 to 1.5 inches valleys).
(3) The ground is saturated from recent rains.
(4) Reservoir systems are full.
(5) Rivers, creeks and streams already running higher than normal.

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