Ok the skies are blue the winds, (at least today) are light and all is quiet in the weather world. So why is it that I just can't shake this worried feeling. Like when will the other shoe drop. I keep worrying that the longer we have this cold dry weather the rougher the transition out is going to be. I call this cold soaking. Temperatures at night are into the low 30's and 20's. High's are upper 30's and low 40's.

On the eastside of the Cascades there's a ton of snow on the ground. Radiational cooling will keep lows in the sub-zero range for the near future. I don't see any change is this pattern through at least the weekend maybe longer.

When this pattern breaks it could be messy! A low from the Gulf of Alaska could bring in a cold wet airmass, cold air from east of the Cascades comes west and POW snow in Portland. Or A somewhat warmer airmass arrives from the west or southwest, POW cold air drawn down the gorge, warm air rides over the top and a freezing rain event hits.

Good news neither scenario will happen anytime soon. So I'll drink more Malox and keep staring at the computer models and satellite images.

Dave Salesky
dsalesky@kgw.com