Portland, Oregon to dry out after experiencing wettest August day in 14 years
By Kristina Pydynowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
By Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather Meteorologist
August 13, 2019, 9:49:20 AM EDT
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After enduring record rain, mudslides and hail, the northwestern United States is catching a break with dry weather lasting through the week.
This past Friday and Saturday were active days in the Northwest as an unusually potent storm swept through the region. In several cities, Saturday entered record books in terms of daily rainfall.
The 0.80 of an inch officially recorded in Portland, Oregon, was the wettest August day since Aug. 29, 2005, when 1.05 inches fell. Saturday is also now the second wettest day so far this year, behind the 1.11 inches that soaked the city on Jan. 18.
"Many places, such as Portland, picked up more rain over the course of Friday and Saturday than they typically do in the entire month of August," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and western U.S. blogger Brian Thompson.
Rainfall in Portland spanning Friday and Saturday totaled 0.91 of an inch. The rainfall average for all of August is only 0.67 of an inch.
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Seattle also set a daily rainfall record for Aug. 10 with 0.38 of an inch.
"While the rainfall was beneficial, the thousands of lightning strikes that also accompanied the storm helped to start over a hundred wildfires," Thompson stated.
Over 2,800 lightning strikes over the last 24 hours just across Washington! Isolated t-storms across the Cascades and possibly into the Foothills this afternoon into this evening. [Graphic: @NWCCInfo] #WAwx pic.twitter.com/aRHglQCuam
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) August 10, 2019
"The good news is that only a few of the fires ignited by lightning over the past few days are considered large," he added. "Despite the lightning, the rain definitely aided firefighters."
Other thunderstorms produced accumulating hail and wind damage in some communities, and too much rain fell in a few areas.
Heavy rain triggered a mudslide on State Route 410 in the Washington Cascades on Friday night. The state's Department of Transportation crews cleared the roadway and opened it back up to motorists on Saturday afternoon.
UPDATE: Last nights heavy rain storms caused several slides to block sections of SR 410, which remains closed east of Chinook Pass from the junction of SR 123 & SR 410 near MP 66 to MP 74 near Morse Creek. Crews r assessing the slide areas & we hope to know an opening time today. pic.twitter.com/fDoZYoBfnz
— WSDOT East (@WSDOT_East) August 10, 2019
Luckily, the forecast through the first half of this week will be nothing like Friday and Saturday across the Northwest.
Dry weather will span the Northwest through Wednesday.
Partly to mostly sunny conditions will prevail with temperatures returning to the lower and middle 80s in Portland early this week. Highs in the upper 70s are in store for Seattle.
Temperatures will climb back into the lower 90s in the warmest interior valleys but will not rise much above normal.
Gusty winds will also be largely absent across the Northwest early this week, allowing firefighters to continue to get the upper hand on the ongoing blazes.
The dry weather should continue through the end of the week and into the weekend.
The summer months are typically the driest of the year in the Northwest. Any rainfall now will be welcome with the AccuWeather long-range forecasting team anticipating a warmer and drier-than-normal autumn to take shape across much of the Northwest with continued drought and fire dangers.
Download the free AccuWeather app to keep track of severe weather alerts in your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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