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News / Clark County News

Weather Eye: Transitional month October’s weather is still a toss-up

By Patrick Timm
Published: October 4, 2016, 5:59am

“It is beginning to feel a lot like autumn, everywhere you go, take a look in your retail store, they have leaf rakes, and Halloween supplies, rain boots and more!” Okay, I was building on the Christmas theme song of it is beginning to look like — you know.

This week looks damp with occasional rain or showers, cool temperatures and blustery winds at times. We may survive with a dry day Thursday, maybe. Beyond that into the weekend it looks like more of the same. One reliable forecast model shows a break with dry, warm weather this weekend, keeping the storm track just to our north. But I am sticking with the cool and wet models. We will update the forecast Thursday.

October is a transitional month and perhaps one that has more weather changes than any other month. It can be warm and dry or wet and cold. It can have wind storms and snows in the mountains. When we started the month our average high was only 70 degrees and by month’s end we average around 56 degrees.

Have you turned the heat on yet or thrown another blanket on the bed? I confess, I did.

I am also wondering if this is the beginning of the autumn rains. New weather predictions for the last half of the month from the National Climate Center indication drier and warmer than normal. That is a 180 from last week.

Our annual rainy season usually gets underway the last week of October. Last year in Vancouver Halloween was wet — really wet with 1.52 inches. With that big storm we ended just over average for the month otherwise it would have been a dry month. So you just never know during this weather ‘trick or treat month’.

Watch the leaves fall from the trees this week in the breezes where along the coast winds will be the strongest this fall in the 30-45 mph range. Storm watching anyone?


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

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