Sun breaks and unsettled showers linger around the Portland area Wednesday

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Wednesday brings in more dry time with lingering showers around the valley.

Skies will begin to dry as clouds decrease through the mid-morning hours. Mostly cloudy conditions will remain, but a few moments of sunshine could help create instability in the atmosphere on Wednesday afternoon and evening. That could bring back pop-up showers in Portland and the valley with the chance for thunderstorms mainly in the foothills of the Cascades.

The best location to see any real thunderstorm activity will be closer to the Oregon-Idaho border on Wednesday afternoon and evening. No severe weather is expected, but strong storms will develop east of the Cascades. A few fast-moving showers and thunderstorms could bring accumulative rain to some areas along the Willamette Valley.

Rain accumulation will only amount to a couple of hundredths of an inch to a tenth of an inch Wednesday. Some locations over the Cascades could see more as stronger showers are expected to develop at higher elevations.

Drier skies are expected to build across western Oregon and Washington on Thursday. That's where valley temperatures will likely return to the low 70s. That's short-lived. Another round of scattered rain showers is likely by the end of the week and the start of the weekend.