Warm weather remains as holiday weekend approaches

With Labor Day weekend fast approaching, the unofficial end of summer is soon upon us, but that doesn’t mean the weather is going to change significantly any time soon.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory and a red flag warning until 8 p.m. Monday in Vancouver due to scorchingly high temperatures and exceptionally dry conditions.

The thermometer hit a high of 97 at Pearson Airfield as of 6 p.m. Monday.

The last few months have been exceptionally dry in Southwest Washington.

Prior to a small weather system that dropped about a tenth of an inch of rain on Aug. 13, Vancouver went 51 days without precipitation. We haven’t had rain since then, and the weather service isn’t predicting any for the foreseeable future.

Also, while the rest of the week is expected to be hot, it won’t be as bad as Monday. The forecast is smoke-free for the foreseeable future.

“This is probably going to be the warmest it’s going to get for this week, then it’s going to cool down as (the high pressure system) moves out of the area,” said David Bishop, a meteorologist with the weather service.

Tuesday will be about 10 degrees cooler than Monday, with the highs expected to reach 89.

Midweek the temperatures will dip further still, down to around 81 on Wednesday before they begin gradually climbing into the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday are expected to be in the low 90s.

Bishop said current conditions are “somewhat typical” for this time of year, but things have been drier and warmer than usual and it looks like it’s going to stay that way.

On a brighter note, the smoke from the Southern Oregon forest fires that lingered over Clark County at the start of the week aren’t expected to come back in the any time soon.