Last weekend was packed with wind and intermittent showers, which was a stark contrast from the end of the work week. Breezy conditions are expected to last for the remainder of the afternoon, but that’s pretty much it for wind for the foreseeable future (which is like three days when it comes to that). Temperatures will climb slowly to the low-to-mid 80s by the end of the work week, backing off to the upper 70s for the weekend.
A ridge of high pressure will build throughout the week, providing blue skies to the entire region. This ridge will last throughout the week, with two centers on the western half of the United States, one located over the Pacific Northwest and the other located off the coast of southern California. This ridge will block other weather patterns from coming ashore, keeping us high and dry.
Right now it’s not looking like this week will be hotter than last. Last Friday, the Tri-Cities Airport reached 88. Our current forecast has Thursday as our warmest day, reaching up to around 83.
A round of showers is possible Sunday as a small system fights its way through the ridge, but that won’t be a major rainmaker. It is possible for us to see some stronger winds with that but, like I mentioned above, the forecasting wind isn’t too great beyond about three days or so.
Leading up to last weekend, the Weather Prediction Center had barely any rain for the Columbia Basin with precipitation values approaching 0.75 inches in the Cascades. Right now for next weekend, they have us with barely any precipitation with not even a half-inch in the mountains.
What’s way more interesting than the tiny amount of rain we might receive this weekend is what is looking to be a heatwave coming into the area next week. I mentioned this briefly on my Facebook page yesterday, so here’s a better look. Some phone apps are even saying we’ll get over 90 next week. I don’t think I’m quite ready to definitively put 90 in a forecast, but it wouldn’t really surprise me at this point.
In the map above, deeper reds aren’t necessarily warmer temperatures, but a higher chance of being above average. For May 6-10, our average high is 74 with our average low being 43, so according to the Climate Prediction Center, we have an 80% chance of being above those temperatures. As with everything in long-range forecasting, this could very easily change, so I’ll keep you updated.
