Weather Eye: After the sunshine, lots of mountain snow on the way

No complaints about the glorious sunshine the past few days, although we had to feel the chilly temperatures coming down the Columbia Gorge. But at least it is dry and cheerful going along with the season, right?

With only two days to go in November, I doubt we get any rainfall, so we will likely end up about 1 inch below average in that department. The official reading for Vancouver stands at 4.56 inches. The average mean temperature is 45 degrees, pushing two degrees below average.

Despite a chilly air mass east of the Cascades, the east winds as they flow to lower elevations tend to warm slightly — and combined with the full sunshine have been keeping our highs around the 50-degree mark.

Overnight lows vary greatly because of the winds. Saturday’s low in Vancouver was 25 degrees as the wind died down for a short while and the temperature fell like a rock. Other areas near the mouth of the Gorge remained at 32 degrees or above.

In Clark County, lows were closer to 20 degrees with a few reports of upper teens. This is the natural phenomenon associated with wintertime east winds.

I spent Thanksgiving in Sunriver, where Tuesday’s snowstorm made it a winter wonderland. About 12-15 inches of snow piled up in the Bend/Sunriver area. With clearing skies and all that snow cover, overnight lows dipped below zero. It was unusual to see my car thermometer reading minus-5 degrees. The overnight lows bottomed out at 13 degrees below zero there.

This week, we will see the strong ridge of high pressure break down, and once again we will see some systems move inland. The first one will be weak trying to push into the dry air over us. If any moisture were to fall, evaporative cooling could cause snow or freezing rain in the Gorge. Outside chance of a few snowflakes, but lots of mountain snow on the horizon.

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

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