Drought in the Pacific Northwest, Cool & Showery Days Ahead

Recently, we took a deep dive into the major drought impacting the Southwest US. Due to a very dry spring, the drought is increasing in the Pacific Northwest.

Below is the US Drought Monitor valid May 11th. Notice the moderate and severe drought moving north into Oregon and SW Washington (along with Eastern WA). Western Washington is under the “abnormally dry” category.

Generally, Oregon is in worse shape than Washington, but more severe drought is beginning to creep into our state.

We can see the reason for expanding drought due to much less rain than average over the past 60 days.

Below are two maps showing percent of average rainfall for Washington and Oregon from March 18th to May 17th.

The majority of Washington and Oregon have received less than 70% of average rainfall in the last 60 days. The Puget Sound area and most of the Willamette Valley is at 25-50% of normal, and most of Eastern Washington, parts of Portland, and other parts of Oregon have less than 25% of normal rainfall.

While it has been a very nice spring with lots of warm weather, we are “paying” for the warm weather because of its impact on drought.

Bottom line: Drought is getting worse in the Pacific Northwest, including the Puget Sound area. For now, we aren’t discussing impacts of the drought, but be aware of it and expect to hear more on this blog in the coming months.

Now to the upcoming weather...

Monday was cooler than originally forecast and 10-20 degrees colder than Sunday. The graphic below shows the difference in temperature between 4 PM Monday and 4 PM Sunday.

Quite a change from sunny and near 80 degrees on Sunday...then Monday was cloudy, breezy, and rainy late, with highs barely cracking 60 degrees.

Looking ahead, here is the Puyallup forecast from Weather Underground.

Expect Tuesday and Wednesday to be showery with highs near 60 degrees. There is a 10-20% chance of thunderstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Remember, “when thunder roars, go indoors!” Temperatures warm up starting Thursday, reaching 75 degrees with mostly sunny conditions by Saturday.

Additionally, it will be breezy through Tuesday afternoons/evening. The forecasts below show winds gusting 20-35 mph.

Remember that any showers on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially in the afternoon, could feature brief heavy rain, gusty winds, small hail, and the potential for thunder and lightning.