Rain West Sun East Stuck In The Middle With Clouds...
Oh humm weather across Portland Today. A weak Trough is moving across the Pacific Northwest today. The result has been clouds and some showers at the coast. Look at ODOT camera near Astoria this morning.
The damp weather on the coast never pushed inland. We've lots of mid-level clouds but coast range mountains managed to squeeze most of the moisture out of the clouds. Portland and the Willamette Valley are east of the Coast Range. The light rain and drizzle was blocked by what called a rain shadow effect.
Normally the Coast Range is not high enough to create much of a rain shadow. In this case today's weather system is weak. The mountains tall enough to block the precipitation, but not the clouds. Central Oregon is basking under fair skies today because Cascades Mountains are high enough to squeeze the remaining moisture out of the cloud cover.
Regards
Dave
