Weather Eye: County spared from region’s wild weather

There is never a dull moment in the great Pacific Northwest, unless you live in Clark County. The forecasted trough of low pressure swung energy inland and aside from some drizzle, a few claps of thunder and some light rain, it was pretty tame.

Elsewhere around the state, areas north of Clark County had lightning, thunder, heavy rain, hail, gusty winds, you name it. Looking at the map of lightning strikes Sunday, they were in every direction around our county, almost like we had a protective dome over us.

It was very interesting to have a solid marine deck of low clouds and drizzle and hear claps of thunder above and ensuing raindrops falling to the ground. The instability was midlevel above the low clouds.

Not that we wanted devastating storms or anything but I think most weather watchers were geared up for some active weather that was ultimately a letdown. Rainfall Sunday was only a few hundredths of an inch, hardly enough to settle the dust. In the Puget Sound region and areas east of the mountains, rainfall amounts were a third of an inch to over 1 inch of rain.

The rest of the week looks unsettled until later Wednesday, when skies clear, and Thursday should be the warmest day of the week. Forecast models indicate another low Friday with a chance of showers over the weekend. That is if the moisture doesn’t skirt Clark County again.

Autumn begins Sunday. Will we slide quickly from fall to winter this year? Here is a forecast quote from the Old Farmer’s Almanac, “Winter will be much snowier than normal, with frequent snows from mid-December through the first three weeks of January. Rainfall will be near normal, with temperatures below normal, on average, in the north and above in the south. The coldest periods will occur in mid- to late December, early to mid-January, and mid- to late January.”

See you on Thursday for the full harvest moon.