Longtime Northwest residents are fond of saying that summer doesn’t start until after the Fourth of July.
This year we’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.
After a mild holiday with a 79-degree high, the forecast calls for a string of partly cloudy days with high temperatures in the mid-70s and some light drizzle that could approach bona fide rain.
“Right now, we are just in a cooler pattern with an upper trough bringing in a cooler flow,” said Miles Higa, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Portland. “It’s kind of a slow-changing pattern we are in right now.”
That upper trough is an elongated area of low atmospheric pressure, the opposite of the traditional ridge of high pressure that can draw warmer temperatures from the south and bring summery weather to the region.
“When it’s over us for this time of the year, it usually brings us our cloudy mornings and some sunshine in the afternoon,” Higa said.
Those morning clouds may be slow to clear this weekend, with high temperatures mired in the low 70s.
Meanwhile, parts of Alaska are experiencing a heat wave with temperatures in Anchorage, Alaska, reaching the high 70s and low 80s.
“It is affecting us,” Higa said. “They have the strong high pressure over them.”
Although it may seem cool here in the Northwest, Higa said the average high in Vancouver during the first week of July is a mild 78 degrees, a few degrees higher than what we should experience this weekend.
“It’s pretty near normal,” he said. “So enjoy it while you can. We still have a couple months of warmer temperatures left.”
And if the thought of cool temperatures and showers gets you down, perhaps another popular saying from longtime Northwest residents will help: We need the rain.
Jeffrey Mize: 360-735-4534; jeffrey.mize@columbian.com; twitter.com/JHarlanMize.
