Weekend of Sun, Fun on Oregon Coast, Maybe Comets Too

Published 11/21/2013

(Oregon Coast) – The weather forecast for the rest of the next few days shows plenty of continued sun on the Oregon coast and nights that are not nearly as cold as inland Oregon. This could mean some astonishing sights in these clear skies as the weekend may contain the possibility of the “comet of the century” with Comet ISON becoming visible, maybe spectacularly so.. Above: Comet ISON photographed Tuesday by Aaron Kingery of NASA and the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Sunny days and clear nights will continue through at least next week, according to National Weather Service forecasts as of Wednesday. This could well change – as weather predictions often do – but the blue skies so far show they will hold out through at least Monday, with Tuesday and Wednesday becoming partly to mostly cloudy.

This – so far – bodes well for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

The forecasts are for towns Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Rockaway Beach, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Newport, Depoe Bay and Yachats.

Thursday – today – will remain sunny with a high near 48 and light winds around 10 mph. At night it's expected to be mostly clear with a low around 36.

Friday's daytime high should be around 51, while the nighttime warms up to about 40 degrees.

Saturday and Sunday remain sunny and around the mid 50's, with nighttime lows in the 40's – considerably warmer than places like Portland or Salem, which will retain the nighttime lows of the low 30's and just around the freezing point.

The NWS says Monday remains sunny while Tuesday and Wednesday start to get partly sunny or mostly cloudy.

Clear skies will provide open viewing of Comet ISON in much of Oregon, but not neccessarily the coast. According to KATU TV in Portland the comet may have already been at its brightest early this morning – Thursday. However, OMSI is holding a comet viewing party on November 28 in Estacada and the comet should still be slightly visible around 5:25 a.m. in the coming mornings.

KATU said to look to the east/southeast on a flat horizon, although early twilight may quickly drown it out about a half hour later. Also, viewing this from the Oregon coast may be unlikely because of the coast range mountains immediately to the east. This makes your chances of seeing it better east of Portland or in the mid Willamette Valley. Towns like Silverton or Mt. Hood could have killer views of the big space ball.

ISON will soon be passing too close to the Sun and will be hidden by its glare, but if it survives that encounter and does not break up it is predicted to have a spectacular white tail when it continues coming back around. It could be visible into late December, which may increase the chances of seeing it on the Oregon coast.

OMSI's Jim Tood said Todd another flying body, Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1) is now brighter than Comet ISON. It is apparently visible near the handle of the Big Dipper.

You will need optics to get a good look at either comet.

See further weather updates for each area at their individual weather page: Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Rockaway Beach, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Newport, Depoe Bay and Yachats.

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