Today: Cloudy skies and light rain moved into central Oregon late morning and early afternoon. Wetting rains did not occur over the Akawa Butte fire footprint with an estimated 0.01-0.03" of total rainfall. The cloud cover and smoke kept the lower atmosphere fairly stable with light, terrain-driven winds of less than 5 mph over the fire area through the morning, with a light northeast component evolving by late afternoon. Temperatures remained relatively cool through most of the day in the 70s rebounding to the lower 80s by late afternoon as RH fell into the 30-40% range.

Tuesday: Light northeast winds of around 5 mph through early afternoon with a northwest push by late afternoon are expected under a ridge of high pressure Tuesday. Monsoon moisture and increasing instability in the afternoon will lead to isolated showers and thunderstorms mainly along the Cascade Crest, but a 20 percent chance of a shower or thunderstorm exists for the Akawa Butte fire footprint. Temperatures will warm into the lower 90s in valley with RH falling into the mid 20 percent range under mostly cloudy skies.

Wednesday through Sunday: An approaching weather disturbance, deeper tropical moisture and an unstable atmosphere will bring scattered showers and thunderstorms to central Oregon Wednesday. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for abundant lightning Wednesday. Gusty outflow winds are also likely along with brief heavy rain accompanying stronger thunderstorms. Stronger west-northwest winds return Thursday, lasting through the weekend with increasingly dry conditions as the upper-level ridge breaks down.