Some exciting weather today for those weather observers who like active weather, especially over and east of the Cascades. Thunderstorms, hail, heavy rain and flash floods were in the offering.
Mild temperatures east of the mountains along with heavy rain and melting snow will undoubtedly cause some localized flooding, and watches and warnings are out for this.
Prone areas on the east slopes of the Cascades such as the Yakima and Kittitas Valley will most likely see flooding. Good thing this is not the long Memorial Day holiday, as many campers and hikers would be out and about.
Possible heavy rain and localized street flooding was also forecast for our area, especially eastern Clark County, as a warm and unstable moist air mass moves northward. If things materialize, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an inch or more of rain being reported around Vancouver.
Cooler air moves overhead early next week with, yep, you guessed it, more snow in the mountains. That translates to scattered showers and below-normal temperatures for us in the lowlands. With the expected rainfall today and off and on next week, we shouldn’t have any difficulty getting to the total average rainfall for the entire month of May. Last year, May had above average rainfall with 3.94 inches being recorded.
I can tell you the best chance of a beautiful day is next Saturday as the Hazel Dell Parade of bands performs. It is almost always nice. You can count on one hand the days that it has rained in the past 35 years!
The way things are going, I would expect the typical annual Rose Festival low setting up off our coast, bringing cool and wet conditions.
Looking back through decades of records, it occurs about 75 percent of the time. The good news is that as La Niña exits the weather picture, it should start to warm and dry up a bit. So maybe a good share of June may not be too bad.
One must remember, though, that June is usually a cloudy month, even more so than May. That is because of the maritime intrusion of low clouds that bring us the typical morning clouds/afternoon sunshine regime. But hey, that’s all right by me.
I am happy to report a few of my nasturtiums have sprouted, bringing hope for a pot full of blooms from these mystical plants.
Enjoy your week, keep dry and look on the sunny side up of things!
Pat Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.
