Weather Eye: Enjoy warm days, because they’re not going to last much longer

It was one of those rare days when the ocean beaches were in the 85-90 range in Oregon and 80-85 in Washington. They were warmer than the western valleys Wednesday as strong east winds blew offshore, heating the air the further west they went.

That will change today as the heat low will move inland and draw cooler ocean air along the beaches, but it will still be quite pleasant with no rain. Locally it will warm some 5 degrees or so from the local highs of 83 or 84 Wednesday. This will be our hottest day.

Over the weekend, as a cold trough of low pressure moves inland, we will drop 20-30 degrees from Thursday’s high.

One reason the coast was so warm Wednesday was the offshore winds. They come down over the Cascades and the air compresses, causing it to warm. If this continues all the way to the beach, they, too, feel the effects. Today the east winds will continue to blow but not reach as far west, setting us up for a hot day.

The farther east you go under conditions such as Wednesday’s, the cooler it will be. Troutdale, Ore., and Camas were only 80, while the official high in Vancouver as of 5 p.m. was 83.

My rainfall tally for April was 3.81 inches. Last year, I recorded 2.30 inches, and 4.06 inches in 2012. My heaviest in the past eight years was 5.51 inches in 2011.

The jump in the number of tornadoes was dramatic across the U.S. the past several days. At the beginning of the week it was at 116 for the year. That nearly doubled with the unofficial tally Tuesday at 220 tornadoes.

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