Weather Eye: Holiday brings teeter-tottering weather

Happy Valentine’s Day! Looks like the weather will be a bit on the damp and chilly side, keeping the warm hearts inside.

A very cold weather system will slide through today, dropping low snow levels in the coastal and Cascade mountain ranges. The foothills might get a dusting, too.

During the rest of the week, the weather will be like a teeter-totter in a playground. You know, the up and down cycle of rain, clearing and back again. There are no big weather systems in sight at this time, but as any storms develop, they always require a weather eye on the horizon. A ridge of high pressure is hovering offshore, pushing weak weather systems to the north and south.

The really cold weather remains across the seas in Europe. The record-breaking cold spell, has been around for three weeks now, and news reports are showing many deaths and hundreds of people with severe frostbite due to the frigid conditions.

Meanwhile, an early spring is making it presence known in the Pacific Northwest. The spring bulbs are pushing up, the robins are back and the pussy willows are dotting the woodland landscape.

In the first 13 days of the February in Vancouver, we are running 1 inches below average on rainfall and about 1 degree above normal for the average temperature.

January was very cold in Alaska. The Fairbanks office of the National Weather Service reported that Nome had its coldest January, Kotzebue had its second coldest, Fairbanks had its fifth coldest since 1971, and Bettles and Galena had their the coldest. Barrow was very cold but didn’t make the Top 10.

Stay warm, everyone. We will chat again Thursday.

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