Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at ptimmwriter@gmail.com.
As expected, a cool trough of low pressure settled in Saturday, which brought about a quarter-inch of rain along our coastline and a trace to a few hundredths of an inch locally as of midday Saturday. Today, another impulse of moisture will reinforce the trough over us and bring showers about later.
Hopefully, we get a tenth of an inch or maybe a quarter of an inch from this one. I mentioned in Thursday’s column that we would be under the gun for a chance of showers this week.
Any day could have showers, but temperatures will be cooler today and then creep back into the normal range of the low 70s toward the end of the week.
Again, I see no signs of soaking rains, although I wouldn’t rule out some areas getting a brief downpour or two. No general widespread rains are expected, but every drop helps to keep things damp and put off the wildfire threats.
There will be no big heat wave this week, either. The first half of June appears to be shaping up with seasonal temperatures and the continued threat of showers. That also means we will have some days with plenty of sunshine to keep the garden growing.
One thing we will be missing this year due to the dry conditions are high water levels along the Columbia River. The gage at the Interstate Bridge in Vancouver is running only at 6 feet or so. Sometimes in late May and early June, that level is near flood stage at 15 feet or more. If you have ever seen the gage under the bridge, you can picture this.
At noon Saturday, Vancouver was at 61 degrees, with showers in the area. The rest of western Washington was only in the 50s.
Some light snow was expected in our Cascades above 5,000 feet this weekend.
After temperatures in the 90s last week, a brief cooldown is fine.
Summer has only begun. We’ll chat on Tuesday.
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