Remnant Tropical Moisture Soaks Northwest

The remnants of Hurricane Oho are pounding the Pacific Northwest and the Alaskan panhandle with heavy rain and gusty winds.

Tropical moisture left Seattle with well over half an inch of rainfall as of Saturday afternoon, with more likely for the rest of Saturday and into early Sunday. While only 0.02″ of rain had been measured at Portland, Oregon’s airport as of 1pm PDT on Saturday, more rain was expected along with gusty winds with an approaching cold front. Temperatures are expected to drop into the low 60s for highs in Seattle and Portland on Sunday, close to seasonable levels. The gusty winds will cross the Cascades and impact eastern Washington and Oregon, along with Idaho and the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming.

The heavy rainfall is welcome news for the drought-ravaged Northwest, where much of the region is under severe or extreme drought conditions after an abnormally dry and hot summer. Oho – once a Category 2 central Pacific hurricane – weakened to a post-tropical system late this week, meaning that the center of the system is cold-cored as opposed to warm-cored.

Additional rainfall is likely across the Northwest Monday night and into Tuesday, although minimal rainfall totals are expected. Following the early week system, the rest of the week looks dry and mild.

For WeatherNation: Meteorologist Chris Bianchi