Heavy rain over the Cascades Saturday, showers across the high desert

The dry and cool pattern today will be changed to a rainy and slightly warmer pattern on Saturday. The area of low pressure off the coast will be able to grab moisture from the Pacific and deposit it over the mountains on Saturday.  The National Weather Service is predicting periods of heavy rain may lead to localized flooding and flash flooding over the burn scars in the mountains.

The timing of the rain is likely to be in the afternoon and early evening Saturday, with the bulk of the rain falling on the west face of the Cascades. There will be plenty of moisture to go around, so the high desert is in line to get more rain. Locations closer to the east side of the mountains will get a bit more rain, and some flooding is possible. Sisters and La Pine as well as Sunriver may see more rain than Prineville as they are closer to the Cascades. 

The burn scars are not nearly as large as the scars in Eastern Oregon, but the topography is steep and varied. The slopes may not be able to handle the quick shot of heavy rain, therefore localized flash flooding is possible.  This is especially true where wildfires have scoured off any vegetation that would stall or slow down the runoff of the rain. Keep an eye to the sky Saturday, as it may not be raining all that hard where you are, but upstream. That water can rush downstream and downhill very rapidly and overtake a region quickly.

Sunday will be partly cloudy and warm with highs in the low 80s. This will be the beginning of several dry days ahead.

Monday through the middle of the week will see highs in the upper 70s to low 80s and mostly sunny skies.

Stay Safe

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