After some heavy downpours saturated most of Clark County over the weekend, things are settling down as we are about to turn the page officially into autumn mode weather-wise. Fall begins Wednesday at 8:09 p.m., although the entire month so far has seemed quite fall-like.
Rainfall amounts over the weekend ranged from under an inch in some Clark County areas to upwards of 4 inches near Mount St. Helens. Surprisingly enough, the coastal beaches received much less, generally between a quarter and a third of an inch of rain. A little bit backwards, but hey that’s the way it goes sometimes!
It is a good thing rivers are at their lowest point of the summer, to accommodate the runoff from the west slopes of the Cascades. And of course the earth was quite thirsty as well. I was at the coast over the weekend and it sure felt humid at times with the southerly breezes. Driving home one could easily see the fall foliage beginning to take color. Leaves were blowing through the afternoon breezes Sunday scattering across the pavement with a flurry.
Folks at the coast were busy splitting and chopping wood for the winter, which everyone is talking about. It appears all signs point towards a cold and wet winter. I am not ready to jump on the bandwagon about lots of snow here locally because many of the years with moderate to strong La Niña events brought little if any snow to the lowlands but plenty to the mountains.
