The streak of dry weather in much of the Northwest is about to come to a soggy end. A weather system fueled by subtropical moisture is bearing down on the region.
Forecasters say some coastal mountain areas could see up to eight inches of rain this weekend, with as much as two inches predicted for interior valleys. Many of those areas have had just a smattering of rain drops since the beginning of July.
Kathie Dello is deputy director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University. She says dry summers are common in the Northwest, but ...
"What's different this year is that normally we would see some rain in September, certainly the first few weeks of October. So we've been spoiled by a few dry months and now it's going to hit us hard."
Dello says the ground is so dry, the heavy rains are unlikely to cause floods. And she says the moisture will provide a welcome round of assistance to crews fighting wildfires east of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington.
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network
