Weather Eye: Dry March came in and will likely go out like a lamb

Not much change in the weather pattern from what we chatted about the other day. Basically, high pressure holds, with a weak disturbance brushing us to some extent today through Thursday. Any rain will be on the light side and weather remains on the mild side as well.

I’m still thinking we’ll hit close to 70 degrees this Saturday, which would be the first 70-degree day since October 22 when the temperature reached 71 degrees. Our last 80-degree day was just one day earlier on October 21.

An 80-degree day isn’t out of the question for the upcoming month of April. We basked last year under sunny skies and 82 degrees on April 22 and the next day reached 83 degrees.

So the bottom line is not much rain the last days of March and mild temperatures. Easter Sunday still looks dry and warm at this point. A good, maybe great weekend for outdoor egg hunts. And better yet, it may be nice enough to bring out the old barbecue and cook Easter dinner outside. So, in between the periods of clouds that roll by, get some sunshine on your face and soak in the vitamin D.

Some interesting information from the National Weather Service in Portland: As of Monday, Vancouver has recorded only 6.10 inches of rain since January 1. If we were not to get any more measurable rainfall this month, it would be the driest January-March period since 1890.

I think we may get a few hundredths of an inch and push 2013 to second place. Currently, 1929 is in second place with 6.11 inches. It doesn’t take much rain to deposit .01 of an inch in the bucket, so stay tuned. The third driest so far is 6.90 inches in 2001.

Despite the lack of precipitation here, the Cascade snowpack is basically normal, so good news there. See you on Thursday.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at Weather Systems.