PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland can expect to see repeated bouts of heavy rain over the weekend due to a slow-moving atmospheric river that blew in over the region Friday morning. The city could see well over two inches of rainfall by Sunday night, with even more on the way for the coast and Coast Range.
The rain was pretty light in the metro area Friday morning, according to KGW meteorologist Daisy Caballero, but heavier rain is expected in the afternoon and evening, with nearly half an inch of rainfall in some parts of the Interstate 5 corridor. The rain will continue Saturday morning, with a heavier downpour arriving in the evening.
The end result will likely be that Portland records more than 9 inches of rain for the month of January, surpassing December's total of 8.73 inches. The good news is there's no chance of another round of winter storms — daytime highs are expected to be in at least the mid 40s Friday and into the upper 50s Saturday and Sunday, according to Caballero.
There's also little risk of flooding, according to the National Weather Service. As of Friday afternoon, the expectation is that rivers and streams will rise, but there won't be enough rain in a short enough amount of time to push them beyond their banks.
Conditions could be more precarious up in the Cascades. A winter weather advisory was in effect for the Columbia River Gorge, Cascades and parts of central Oregon until midday Friday, Caballero noted, with ongoing risks of slick roads and frozen surfaces.
