NWS Pendleton has issued a Red Flag Warning for the Central Blue Mountains in southern Morrow and Umatilla counties. This runs on Thursday from 11 AM - 11 PM.
The Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency has issued an Air Quality Alert for Yakima County until 5 PM Thursday.
Today: This morning, showers and thunderstorms will arrive from the south in Morrow and Umatilla counties. This’ll become more widespread and persist throughout the day. The best thunderstorm chances/coverage will likely be in the Blue Mountains, but the whole region has a chance today at seeing some active weather. Of course, we’ll track the potential for holdover fires very closely. Clouds will build throughout the day with light haze in the sky, minus some thicker smoke downwind of the Williams Mine Fire burning in southwestern Yakima County. Winds will gust out of the north-northwest for the Kittitas Valley, out of the west for the Yakima Valley, and out of the west-southwest for the Lower Columbia Basin and Blue Foothills. Winds will gust between 20-30 MPH. Otherwise, today will be a continuation of our cooler stretch of weather. Highs will still be about 5 degrees below average. Expect low-80s for the Blue Foothills, with mid-80s for the Kittitas Valley, Yakima Valley, and for the Lower Columbia Basin.
Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms will mostly peter out into the late evening. However, we can’t rule out a shower or thunderstorm being leftover in the Blue Foothills or Blue Mountains. Winds, however, will continue to gust with the same gusto and direction that they did during the daytime. That means that the smoke and haze situation will mostly be the same. Overnight lows will turn cool again. It’ll be in the mid to upper-50s for the Kittitas Valley, Yakima Valley, and Lower Columbia Basin. Some parts of the Blue Foothills could be trapped in the low-60s.
Extended: Much smaller shower/thunderstorm chances are possible on Friday, specifically for the mountains, Kittitas Valley, and foothills. However, a resurgence in thunderstorms is likely for Saturday. Even though lightning in the forecast is bad, at least high temperatures won’t put in extra work to dry out vegetation even more. Our highs will stay just shy of 5 degrees below average through early next week, at least. This’ll consistently place the Tri-Cities in the upper-80s to low-90s, minus an anomaly for Saturday (highs reaching back into the mid-90s).
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