I’m up early this morning because it’s the last week of school for the kids and my LAST morning math volunteer session of the school year. Of course I’m checking the rainfall totals and they look very impressive. A 2.40″ out in the Lee’s Camp area of the North Coast Range, I have had about 1.20″ here above Rooster Rock park, a 1.50″ up on Larch Mountain (OR), and up around 2″ now at the SNOTEL sites around Mt. St. Helens.
Looks like PDX and VUO (Portland and Vancouver airports) have some of the heaviest right in the metro area…both have had exactly .76″ as of 8am. By 9am, PDX will have had half of it’s normal June rainfall in one day!
I noticed the “next 24 miles-watch for landslides” sign was flashing heading into the Gorge on I-84 at midnight. That’s the first time it has been used in almost two years…and it’s June??? Feels…er…looks more like November.
The bulk of the rain has moved inland now and it should ease off the next few hours through most of the metro area, but east of I-205 it’ll be slower to let up, and it may not stop completely in the Cascade foothills until tonight. So another 1-1.50″ is likely in the foothills and Cascades, maybe 2″ additional south of Mt. Hood where the baroclinic zone sits a bit longer the 2nd half of the day. I bet we get that extra .25″ easily here in Portland for a 1″ rainfall day.
The brand new 12z NAM is pretty weak and farther south with the surface low Thursday night, keeping it south of Portland and only 1000 mb.
Stay Dry!
Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelsen
Here are some of the final numbers from our rainstorm. It was a strongly orographic rainstorm, with rain shadowing on the west side of the Valley and mammoth totals up against and in the Cascades. Notice PDX had just under an inch, Troutdale just over, then it goes up quickly from there east. Highest I could find was just about 5″ in the Bull Run Watershed (Portland’s water supply). You think we’ll have any water issues this summer? Seems mighty unlikely.
11pm: Apparently I can’t get anything right. The title should have said storm total rainfall (it says that now) and the Skamania number didn’t exist.
Posted by Mark Nelsen 
FOX 12 Weather Blog 