The first snowflakes of the season mixed with the rain here at city levels early Saturday morning while Clark County locations above 1,000 feet got an inch or two of snow.
The combination of a cool air mass left by Thursday’s storm and clearing skies Friday night, with no south winds to warm things up, was just enough to lower the snow levels for a while. Even in the late afternoon it was only in the upper 30s with falling rain.
When we get one of these chilly winter days, it’s good to sit near the fire with a book. Or rove the shopping centers with Christmas on your mind.
A blustery storm moves by to our north tonight and Monday bringing high winds along the coast and some good winds inland — possible 40–50 mph along Interstate 5.
Heavy snows will fall in the Cascades well into Tuesday. Very cold air after the storm will drop snow levels to 1,000 feet; if there is any moisture left, we could see snow on urban hilltops — at 500 feet or so.
Beyond that, more unsettled weather will bring rain and wind with mountain snow.
So how was the first half of December in Vancouver? Rainfall totaled 3.18 inches, 0.29 of an inch above average. The average mean temperature was 45.3 degrees, 3.9 degrees above average — normally we would have had several freezing days. The high was 56 degrees, on Dec. 4; the low was 32 degrees, on Dec. 6. With cooler weather forecast, I would expect the mean temperature to fall somewhat.
Keep warm and dry, and I will see you on a chilly Tuesday!
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.
