After a long, dry summer, rain is, at last, back in the forecast for the Portland metro area.
The region could see between a quarter to a half inch of rain overnight on Sunday, with off and on showers throughout the day Monday, according to the National Weather Service. A larger system is expected to arrive Tuesday, with an inch of rain expected between Tuesday and Wednesday.
This has been one of the driest summers on record, with Vancouver receiving a tenth of an inch of rain in August, meteorologist Laurel McCoy said. So far in September, the city has received nine hundredths of an inch of precipitation.
“Going so long without measurable rainfall really dried us out, even though we had all that rain last spring and winter,” McCoy said.
It’s a mostly welcome change for firefighters continuing to battle the Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge, which as of Saturday afternoon was burning 45,579 acres and was 32 percent contained.
“That would obviously diminish the fire greatly,” said Jim Whittington, an information officer assigned to the Eagle Creek Fire.
But he described the rain as a “double-edged sword” that could also cause rock or mud slides.
“We have a pretty big burn scar on there and have loosened trees and rocks,” he said.
Air quality, which was listed in Portland as “unhealthy” by the Environmental Protection Agency on Saturday, is also expected to improve.
“The rain’s going to clean out the air and certainly going to help those fires,” McCoy said.
This fall and winter is slated to see a La Niña pattern, bringing with it another rainy season, McCoy said. The first day of fall is Friday.
