Portland area communities dodge severe weather Wednesday, March 26, 2025

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Severe weather was expected to bring historic hail, gusty winds, and a few possible tornadoes to the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday. But that’s not what happened.

This is your chance to call all Portland area meteorologists wrong. Wednesday’s forecast was a bust. All the signs of severe weather outbreaks were there, but it was one unforeseen factor that put an end to the severe weather potential. The early arrival of cooler air was the downfall in Wednesday’s non-severe weather. This is just one of many factors that could have gone wrong and did go wrong when trying to predict the future. It’s not easy. Predicting the future is difficult. Just ask your March Madness bracket.

Despite the busted forecast, it was the best-case scenario. There are not many people out there who would have preferred to see 1-2″ size hail or several tornadoes tear through the Pacific Northwest leaving behind a path of destruction.

Portland’s forecast was anticipating a “CAP” to form over the Pacific Northwest. That happened as temperatures broke records across the region. The warmer air was trapped near the surface, waiting to explode into severe storms. However, that unforeseen cool air snuck its way into western Oregon and Washington before the CAP was able to break. So, storms didn’t have a chance to grow in height and intensity like forecasted.

The KOIN 6 Weather Team has been “most accurate in Portland” for 10 years in a row. Yes, forecasts bust, but the cooler and wetter weather pattern is a guarantee over the next several days across the Pacific Northwest.

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