Weather Eye: First freeze of fall will give way to rainy weather over weekend

Are you enjoying the nice, crisp autumn weather we are having? Many locations had the first freeze of the season early Wednesday.

Weather watcher Jim Knoll of Five Corners reported a low of 31 degrees. He says, “Bring on winter!” Tyler Mode of Battle Ground also reported 31 degrees. He noted that his average first frost is Nov. 3, so we’re right on schedule. At his residence, it had been 203 days since the last freezing temperature. I had 32 degrees in Salmon Creek and Vancouver officially reported 34 degrees at Pearson Field.

There was plenty of frost if you were an early riser, but low clouds moved in, heating things up a bit and melting the thin layer of ice on cars, grass and rooftops in much of the area.

There will be showers today from a weak weather system, and with it a few inches of additional snow above 5,000 feet in elevation. Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon had 9 inches of snow on the ground earlier this week.

There will be a break in the rainy weather Friday, and then a cold trough of low pressure parks itself over us for the weekend, bringing rain and then showers late Friday through Sunday. Colder air will filter in by Monday and Government Camp should get an inch or two of snow this time around. Snow may fall down to the upper foothills to our east if enough moisture remains when the coldest air aloft arrives.

Between the abrupt change in the weather to cold and damp and the swing from Halloween to Thanksgiving, the stores are decking the halls for Christmas already. I guess that’s retail for you. It does excite the weather geeks around the local area into keeping a sharp weather eye for cold air masses to our north and the healthy desire for snow here in the lowlands.

Looking at some climate information Wednesday, it is quite common for us to have a significant snowfall following a year without any measured snow. Last year, we, of course, had none here in the low-lying areas. We’ll see how that pans out. At least there is hope for a good start of the ski season on the upper slopes.

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

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