Weather Eye: Expect light rain then clear skies through holiday

Hold on we are moving to fast, gotta make the nice weather last. I thought we would get more rain later this week but now that’s past. So, after a chance of light rain tonight and Wednesday, we hold the dry weather well into next week.

Yes, forecast models hinted some rain would start falling later this week and next but we now strike that from the forecast. A weak weather system slides by mostly to our north tonight and Wednesday but we should get some light amounts. After that, some forecast models show no rain clear through Thanksgiving.

That would be unprecedented for November to have such a long dry spell in what is usually our wettest month. I’m sure we all are enjoying the sunny weather but we really need the precipitation. We need rain in the lowlands and snow in the mountains.

We did get our first good shot of “winter” east winds with gusts over the weekend and Monday in the 30-50 mph in eastern Clark County. At Crown Point Vista house Monday, Vancouver weather observer Matt Sloan recorded a gust of over 100 mph with a hand-held wind gauge. That is the gathering place for all the local weather geeks this time of the year.

When we get that cold east wind, the temperatures can really vary around the county. Overnight it is the coldest in the wind-sheltered areas and warmer in the exposed windy areas. But of course, it feels much colder when you add in the wind chill factor.

Sunday morning the low in Vancouver was 27 degrees with calm winds. Monday morning it was 39 degrees with the east wind, but the wind chill was in the 20s. I think I prefer the wind-sheltered locations.

Concerning the wildfires in California, there may be some hope for rain there later on as it appears the jet stream may split with the southern branch dipping southward. That would be good news indeed; let’s hope so. Unfortunately for us, the northern portion would stay well to our north for continued high and dry weather.

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