FXUS66 KPDT 021839

AFDPDT



Area Forecast Discussion

National Weather Service Pendleton OR

1039 AM PST Mon Feb 2 2026



.KEY MESSAGES...

- Weak warm front today



- High pressure returns Tuesday through Friday



- Likely pattern change by the weekend



&&



.DISCUSSION...

Today, a weak warm frontal passage will cause snow levels to 

rise above mountain pass levels through the day. Prior to snow 

levels rising, light snow (trace to 2 inches) is forecast for 

the Washington Cascades. Outside of the Yakima and Kittitas

valleys and northern Blue Mountains, measurable precipitation 

is not anticipated east of the Cascades.



Tuesday through Friday, ensemble clusters all show some flavor

of an anomalously strong upper-level ridge over the Pacific 

Northwest. This pattern favors air stagnation, lowland stratus 

and fog, and warm mountain temperatures. Have included a mention

of patchy fog in the gridded forecast through Thursday morning

since confidence is high (80 percent) that there will be at 

least periods of fog in the Columbia Basin and surrounding 

lowlands. Also worth a mention, should widespread fog and 

stratus materialize, afternoon high temperatures will almost 

certainly fail to reach the NBM's optimistically warm values for

areas affected by fog/stratus. Moreover, the NBM's cloud cover

forecast is showing mostly SCT-BKN skies in the lowlands, but

OVC conditions are more representative of what is typically 

observed in this pattern.



By next weekend, ensemble clusters show good potential for a 

return to an active winter pattern, though with ensemble 

membership at roughly a 60:40 split between a wetter troughing 

pattern and a drier ridging pattern, confidence in forecast 

details is low.



&&



.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/...Mostly VFR conditions

expected through 12z Tuesday. After 12z, another round of fog

will develop across the forecast area, bringing periods of MVFR to

IFR conditions to select terminals (KDLS, KYKM, KALW, KPSC).

Confidence in visibility dropping below 1SM is low (5-10%), with

a slight increase with visibilities below 3SM to around 15-20%. 

Generally light wind expected at less than 10 kts. Branham/76





&&



.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...

PDT  35  50  32  50 /  10   0   0   0 

ALW  38  49  36  51 /  20   0   0   0 

PSC  33  49  34  49 /  10   0   0   0 

YKM  33  49  35  50 /  10   0   0   0 

HRI  33  50  34  49 /  10   0   0   0 

ELN  33  44  33  45 /  30   0   0   0 

RDM  29  58  28  59 /   0   0   0   0 

LGD  34  54  35  55 /  10   0   0   0 

GCD  32  57  33  58 /   0   0   0   0 

DLS  38  52  37  52 /  10   0   0   0 



&&



.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

WA...None.

OR...None.



&&



$$



DISCUSSION...86

AVIATION...76