Clear and cool weather will continue for one more day and then things will be more autumn-like around here. Clouds will increase and a little light rain is in the offing for late Wednesday and Thursday. Highs will climb back to more seasonable conditions. How does 50 degrees sound?
That would feel quite balmy to me after a week of sub-freezing overnight temperatures, with the thermometer only reaching the 30s and 40s during the day and a continued east wind through the Columbia River Gorge.
I noticed Monday afternoon that rooftops still have traces of snow and ice from last Thursday. Shady spots in the grass do, as well. Our friends in the eastern portions of the county still have icy roads and driveways to contend with here and there.
A stronger storm is forecast for the weekend, and that one will scour out any remaining cold air in the Gorge and Columbia Basin. There could be some fairly strong winds along the ocean beaches. Maybe a good day for storm-watching coming up.
Freezing levels will hover just above the passes as we get more of a zonal flow off the Pacific. That means additions to the snowpack in the high elevations.
Looking ahead to the week of Thanksgiving, the picture for travelers is not crystal-clear. Let’s get through the rest of this week and deal with that later.
Vancouver managed a pair of overnight lows of 19 degrees — both Saturday and Sunday — one of which was a new record low for the date. Monday’s low was a little warmer, at 21 degrees. Factor in wind chill and it probably felt much colder.
With a great deal of snow cover in Central Oregon, Redmond dipped to 19 degrees below zero over the weekend, its coldest ever in November. Heavy snowfall from last week covered an area from Sisters to Bend and Redmond, Madras and Prineville.
An early arrival of winter, to say the least. We had just enough warm air aloft to keep snow from accumulating.
Keep warm, and we will chat again on Thursday!
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at patricktimm.com
