And the rains came, sometimes in heavy downpours Wednesday afternoon as spring marches on. Our bout of heavy rain around 4 p.m. was quite reminiscent of March rainfall, wasn’t it?
Rainfall totals as of 3 p.m. in Vancouver were about an inch for the month, just about average, but that was before the heavy band of rain that fell later. Temperatures for the month, despite a few warm days, are running about one half degree below average.
For Thursday into Friday, we will see more showers, as another low zigzags across the Northwest before things dry out for the weekend.
Another dry and sunny weekend? Is that possible? Well, that was the plan as of Wednesday afternoon.
If it is dry, might be a good day Saturday to go to the Oregon Zoo in Portland and help celebrate Packy the elephant’s 50th birthday. He and I share the same birthday, but I have a couple of years on him.
The next round of fair weather will certainly bring out the gardeners. If you’re thinking of buying a beautiful hanging basket of geraniums and fuchsias, be aware that there’s still a possibility of frost, which will kill those plants. Protect any tender plants for a while.
The average last frost this year for much of the outlying suburbs is May 17 and April 20 for Vancouver. But this has been a cool spring, much like 2011’s. And as long as there is snow on the Cascades foothills to our east, the threat remains. In 2011, Vancouver had its last official subfreezing temperature at Pearson Field on April 22, but scattered frost appeared on May 1, as well.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.
