Saturday’s weather was certainly a bonus, as a combination of a weak system and offshore flow of air dissipated the low clouds and fog. Although it was still seasonably cool in the mid-40s, with calm winds it felt almost spring-like.
It was nice enough to this vitamin D-deprived individual that I sat out on my deck in the direct sunshine. It was 37 degrees while I basked in the sunshine, but as mentioned, calm winds made it most enjoyable. I’d felt a little depressed after days and days of fog and gray skies.
Skies cleared late Friday during the overnight hours, and temperatures dropped into the 20s in most areas of the county. Vancouver had a low of 28 degrees officially.
That was the good news, short-lived as it was. The reality is high pressure will build strongly overhead and place us back in an inversion pattern, and the fog and low clouds will dominate most of the week.
The only sunshine will be near the gorge and areas of Portland at times, similar to Thursday and Friday.
No rain in sight as our drought conditions continue to multiply. Long-range computer models hint of yet another change as they have in the recent past toward colder weather and maybe a wintry mix. That is out some 10 days or more. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but this high pressure has to go away one day.
Monthly statistics through Saturday for Vancouver show rainfall at 1.87 inches, 1.50 inches below average. The average mean temperature is 41.6 degrees, pretty close to normal. Our temperature extremes for the month range from 58 degrees on the 11th to 22 degrees on the 5th.
With dense fog expected this week, just two more days and we will have a new record in the local area for the number of dense-fog days in the month of January. One record I don’t really care for, do you?
The only caveat in the week’s forecast is a system moving way south of the area could possibly spin northward closer than models forecast, and that would help break up our inversion around midweek. Rain showers, anyone?
Go Seahawks!
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com.
