Monday afternoon, I sit and look out the window writing this column and see hazy sunshine and calm winds. A typical uneventful late autumn day, wouldn’t you say?
In contrast, a few miles to my east in the Columbia River Gorge, wind sensors at Crown Point registered winds of more than 70 mph Monday. And you didn’t have to go that far to notice the strong east winds; there were gusts of more than 30 mph as far west as Camas/Washougal on the Washington side of the river.
Those were our strongest east winds of the season, although they didn’t make many ripples on the west side of I-205. It was enough to blow away that dense morning fog we had in the western parts of the county. The winds will slowly subside today as a weak system moves inland and brings a little rain and relaxes the pressure gradients.
Beyond that, the rest of the week looks rather benign. What looked like a great start to the snow season a week ago has fizzled. With just two weeks or so until Thanksgiving, I am holding my breath that things turn around and we start to build up our snow pack.
