Weather Eye: Much colder conditions begin this weekend

The weather has certainly been a mixed bag around the great Northwest. Heavy snow in the mountains, flooding in Southwest Washington near the Willapa Hills and heavy rain in the foothills and along the coast.

A few local weather observers have reported nearly 2 inches of rain in our local foothills to the east. Here in Vancouver, rainfall has been much lighter. In Cougar, over 3 inches of rain fell Monday and already they have over 10 inches of rain measured for the month.

Southerly winds have bounced the snow level around, so Monday many areas below 4,000 feet had rain at times. This will go up and down for a couple days more before lowering late in the week. As cold air arrives by the weekend, snow will be falling in the coast mountains and our local foothills.

That cold air mass we have been watching appears that it will indeed drop in for a visit late in the weekend. Some forecast charts bring us a full-blown arctic outbreak with bitter cold temperatures, others milder. Of course, how much snow we get is a big unknown. We could get a few inches or an outright snowstorm with a foot or more next week.

The only thing I can say with some certainly is that we are in for much colder conditions beginning late in the weekend and into next week. For snow locally, we need the cold air. Then we need moisture and it depends greatly whether that comes from the north, northwest or the south. Way too far out to pinpoint.

Best to begin thinking about preparing for colder weather next week, removing attached hoses, have cold weather gear in your vehicle, cover outside vents, etc. Keep an eye on the local forecasts as the week wears on.

Details will come into focus as we get toward the weekend.

Meanwhile, we have mild and wet conditions the rest of the week. My snow tires are on.