THE VALLEY
The winter of 2018-19 will likely see less than average snowfall in the Willamette Valley — but there’s a chance for at least one snow event in the valley before the end of 2018.
After the first of the year, the odds for warmer and drier weather increase, with a big ridge of high pressure possible.
There’s a potential for a lot of fog in the valley — caused by inversions — in January and February. There may even be offshore ridging if El Niño really takes hold.
The Willamette Valley will likely end up warmer than average when all the data between November and February is compiled. Or El Niño might not fully develop or we’ll end up in an ENSO neutral phase. If that happens, anything is possible.
When you consider we had a weak El Nino during 2014/15, it was certainly an active year for wind damage. According to the National Weather Service Portland, a windstorm on Oct. 25, 2014 delivered gusts up to 49 mph at PDX and caused power outages for about 140,000 customers in the metro area. On Dec. 14 a storm with 67 mph gusts measured at PDX knocked out power to about 85,000 customers. And a March 15, 2015 storm, again knocked out power with 58 mph gusts, leaving about 150,000 to 160,000 customers in the dark.