435
FXUS66 KPDT 121144
AFDPDT

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
444 AM PDT Fri Jun 12 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Dry and warm trend continues through at least the Monday/Tuesday
  time frame.

- Breezy winds develop locally through the weekend.

- Elevated fire weather conditions expected with dry and breezy
  to locally windy conditions.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
The area is still situated between a ridge in the Pacific and a
trough in the midwest and northern Great Plains. The ridge will
continue to amplify through the weekend. At the same time, a
shortwave (with good agreement with guidance) will briefly enter
the region, forming tighter pressure gradients and deliver
locally breezy winds through the region. This combined with the
dry air associated with minimum relative humidities in the 20s
and teens will bring elevated fire level concerns in isolated
areas. Guidance remains in agreement that the ridge will break
down by the Monday/Tuesday timeframe (>90% confidence) and
develop breezy to locally windy conditions, bringing gusts up to
40 knots across the lower elevated areas that include the
Columbia Basin and the Kittitas Valley (50-70% confidence). This
will bring widespread RFW conditions across that same region
with minimum RH`s in the teens prevailing.

Temperatures by Tuesday will need to be monitored with the
ridge moving onshore that will bring chances of areas reaching
100 degrees. Current NBM guidance advertises 10-20% chances that
parts of the Lower Columbia Basin will reach or exceed 100
degrees, however this has down trended when it was closer to a
50% chance around 24 hours ago. Heat Risk has dropped and down
trended with values of only `2` showing being widespread across
the lower elevations (it was showing `2.5` and `3` yesterday).
There does seem a bit of tick of Major Heat Risk increasing
across the Gorge, Yakima Valley, and parts of the Cascade
region. Regardless, early next week is posed to be a very warm
period across the region with extra pre-caution that needs to be
taken for at least the most sensitive group to heat.


&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SATURDAY/...
VFR conditions prevail through the period. No CIG or VIS issues
expected. Biggest concern this period will be the winds in DLS,
PDT, RDM, BDN. Currently have winds developing gusts up to 20-25
knots by 18-19Z, before tapering to around 10-20 knots by the
late afternoon/early evening hours Friday. Otherwise, dry
weather conditions prevail.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
The dry and warm trend that will continue through at least early
next week will pave way for elevated fire weather conditions to
form. Minimum relative humidities will drop to the teens to
lower 20s through the weekend, with mostly teens by early next
week. Breezy conditions over the weekend will bring localized
RFW criteria, with Tuesday and Wednesday bringing widespread RFW
conditions across the lower elevated areas.

&&

.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...
PDT  80  49  84  50 /   0   0   0   0
ALW  80  53  84  54 /   0   0   0   0
PSC  84  53  88  56 /   0   0   0   0
YKM  85  53  87  56 /   0   0   0   0
HRI  84  51  87  54 /   0   0   0   0
ELN  78  49  82  53 /   0   0   0   0
RDM  82  44  84  47 /   0   0   0   0
LGD  77  44  80  47 /   0   0   0   0
GCD  82  43  83  44 /   0   0   0   0
DLS  84  56  90  61 /   0   0   0   0

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...None.
OR...None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...95
AVIATION...95
FIRE WEATHER...95