Well, we all know November was a bit on the wet side. I can surely see that by the local rainfall reports arriving in my in box, which I will share with you in the near future.
Vancouver ended up with 6.67 inches of rain compared to the average of 5.52 inches. For you math whizzes out there, that is 121 percent of normal. And for a change it was a cool month, with an average mean temperature of 44.9 degrees, 1.6 degrees below average. In that realm of temperatures were the balmy 70-plus degree highs early in the month and the chilly lows near the end.
With a moderate La Niña forecast to remain with us the rest of the winter, the extended outlook calls for colder-than-average temperatures for western Washington right through the month of March. And along with the chill are high odds that precipitation will be above normal. So that’s good news for the mountains, and maybe the lowlands will get another round of cold and some frozen precipitation.
Right now, however, it looks just plain green and wet locally as we transition to more of a westerly flow off the ocean with lots of rain and milder temperatures. That means no freezing weather for us all week, but plenty of rain beginning Tuesday. Snow levels will be a bit higher and there may be rain at times at pass levels. Most likely we’ll see the up-and-down syndrome.
