Severe Weather Awareness for W. Oregon.

April is the official kick off to our severe weather for the spring and summer months. Severe weather for Western Oregon can be defined as Thunderstorms, Winds, Hail, Tornadoes, Wild Fires and Flash Flooding (due to a melting snowpack and a heavy warm rain event). To honor the kickoff, I started a article on Spring Thunderstorms and i'll give you guys a sneak peak right here: NW Oregon Spring Thunderstorms 2007Preview Thunderstorm season in Western Oregon generally starts from April and last’s until August. The more severe storms are seen from April through June. The reason for this is due in part with the interaction with cold air still around colliding with the warmer air of the spring season. Just like the Midwest, we get these two air masses to collide, presenting unstable air to the area causing thunderstorms to develop, which can also turn into severe thunderstorms spawning small tornadoes which are the more uncommon of the storms. The directions of the more severe storms are generally from the South moving N or NE into Western Oregon. Giving those storms flatter surfaces to slide across in the Willamette Valley. Other unproven theories to why we can get severe storms are the interaction from valley to mountains (Coast Range or Cascade Foothills) causing upslope winds mixing in with down sloping winds from the storm. Orographics do play a big part in our Thunderstorms, which is another reason why we don’t see many Tornados. When precipitation moves over any mountain range, it sucks all the moisture from the cloud like a sponge. If a storm moves across the west slope of the coast range, cities near the coast range will likely see more heavy downpours and more possibility to see severe weather along with it. Same with storms on both sides of the Cascades. That version is unedited so some things may not make sense. The full version of my article will be put up next week. Im also awaiting the National Weather Services annual "Severe Weather Awareness Week", the best informational site on the web about NW Oregon's severe weather. I would reccomend that every check it out and go through the information, for that week I will post the information on that day. On April 18th, I will be in Corvallis for official spotter traing for the National Weather Service. I've got a lot im working on for this years weather.