Weather Eye: A little sun is on its way before the next cool, wet spell arrives

The pesky upper-level low that was forecast to quickly slide south into California and then off to the east was still pestering us with scattered showers and thunder Tuesday and Wednesday. A good share of it did make it south, and Central California got 1-3 inches of rain and 1-2 feet of snow in the mountains.

Today we finally get past the risk of afternoon showers, except over the mountains, before yet another cold low-pressure system drops down from the Gulf of Alaska. We should have enough sunshine to push afternoon temperatures well into the 60s.

The next downturn arrives later Friday with rain in the lowlands and mountain snow with showers over the weekend, lowering snow levels to 2,000-3,000 feet. Good news: We are building our snowpack at a greater rate now in April than we did all winter. Crazy.

Although the moisture in California was a welcome event it will do little long term to help the severe drought.

After the Friday-Sunday cold wet spell, forecast charts indicate yet another low will move down over us for a repeat, although with less moisture. It appears we are in a cooler and wetter pattern that we have not seen this year.

So far this month Vancouver temperatures are running 3 degrees below average. Rainfall, despite some heavy downpours, is still about a half-inch below average.

Officially, Vancouver has not had a freezing temperature yet this month, with a low of 35. However, we are still susceptible if we get any sensational clearing overnight in between these chilly weather systems.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.