First Thunderstorms, Then Windstorms?

First Thunderstorms, Then Windstorms?

It’s late and I’m exhausted so I’ll keep this one short and image-free. Anyway…our Memorial Weekend heatwave got cut short two days early, west of the Cascades – and 1 1/2 days early in the Gorge. When the wind shifted back to westerly early this afternoon, temps briefly jumped up to 99 degrees at DLS airport! Then late in the afternoon there was a sudden buildup of clouds as thunder cells over the Cascades began to migrate north and northeast. That led to a thunderstorm coming very close to The Dalles around 7pm, but it actually gave us more wind than thunder. Strong southerly wind gusts of 30-50 mph.

Anyway…that line of T-storms was caused by a marine push west of the Cascade crest. Can you believe it was only 72 in Portland today? A 27-degree temperature gradient today means all that marine air is gonna come FLOODING through the Gorge as a powerful west wind tomorrow. My gut instinct this evening was that it could be pretty dramatic tomorrow, with the sudden flushing out of hot air. We shall see – 45 or 55 peak gust???

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