Fire Weather Watch Sunday Through Tuesday

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland has issued a fire weather watch which is in effect from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday afternoon. An upper level low pressure system will remain off of the California coast through early next week. The hot temperatures during the last week have dried out fuels to critical levels across the area. An unstable southeast to south flow aloft will bring the necessary ingredients into place for the development of scattered thunderstorms Sunday across northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. The combination of lightning and critically dry fuels will result in an elevated risk for multiple ignitions. The highest potential for significant lightning producing thunderstorms will be Sunday and Monday afternoon and evenings. However, most days through midweek have some chance of getting thunderstorms. Any thunderstorms that do develop should be high based with little precipitation and a lot of lightning. Also, these type of storms are capable of producing gusty winds. Storms should progressively become more wet by mid week. A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur. For the most up to date weather information from the NWS please visit http://www.weather.gov/portland. This page brings up all advisories, watches, and warnings for the southwest Washington area.