162
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