Weather Eye: Possible showers today will likely give way to more sunshine

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Writing this column on a warm and sunny Monday afternoon, one would never know we just experienced a wet and wild weekend.

Wet as in more than two inches of rain and wild as in blustery south winds over 50 mph. Lots of tree and roof damage around the area — more than was caused by the windstorm in December. Perhaps some things were weakened back in December and this March blast did the rest. I heard many folks talking about damage and said they didn’t have any back in December.

Portland airport officially recorded a gust of 58 mph at 2:06 p.m. Sunday. I had 53 mph here in Salmon Creek. Fortunately, I didn’t lose my power, as I did in December, but many in the east and north county areas did for several hours. All it takes is one big tree.

A weak weather system skirting by to the north could bring a few showers today but otherwise weather will be nice this week before another chance of rain by late Friday and Saturday. I think Thursday will reach 70 degrees. So a little bit of March madness over the weekend and tranquil weather this week.

So how much rain did we get in the bucket officially for Vancouver? Saturday saw 1.34 inches fall and Sunday .88 of an inch, although most of that fell in the morning hours. The afternoon was nice and dry and windy. We needed the rain, as we are running about 2.50 inches behind for the water year that began Oct. 1. Year to date, we are running 1.64 inches below average.

It was all rain in the mountains, except above the timberline. The upper ski areas lost some of the snowpack and will curtail some operations until they can transport snow down from the upper slopes. Enjoy your week and we will chat on that sunny warm day Thursday.

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