Weather Eye: Clear skies, snowy peaks, wet June, and always tomorrow

Here we are, just hours from the month of July, and there is still a healthy coating of snow on Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood. Wednesday afternoon as skies cleared, it was a wonderful sight.

Around the country, we have wild extremes in weather. Rainfall in the Southeast is measured in feet. Wildfires, which they’re calling firestorms, are racing through the Rockies.

The fire season is under way here in the Northwest. And when things dry out, there will be plenty of vegetation to jump-start wildfires.

Portland reported its third-wettest June on record at the airport: 3.76 inches as of Tuesday. In 1984, 4.06 inches was recorded, and the wettest was just two years ago, with 4.27 inches. What was the summer like after those wet Junes? One was hot and dry, one cool and wet, another cool and dry. Bottom line: Who knows? We don’t expect much rain during July and August, generally less than an inch each month.

Tuesday evening, I was sitting on my bench along the Columbia, just thinking. I didn’t notice at first when someone sat down.

Yep, it was her, the elusive woman who usually appears when the seasons begin to change or during a short break in extreme weather.

“I was hoping you would be sending me a little sunshine,” she said

Chuckling, I say that I’ve been asked that a lot lately. I then borrow some words from the musical “Annie”: “The sun will come out tomorrow, and so you gotta hang on until tomorrow, come what may; tomorrow, tomorrow! You’re always a day a way!”

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.