Weather Eye: Vancouver is poised to break temperature records

First off, happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there. Going to have a barbecue today? Let someone else do the grilling and relax. The weather will be ideal for outdoor activities, with highs around 90 degrees or a little bit higher.

On Monday, we will slide into the mid-90s as we peak with this mini-heat wave, and then we’ll cool down for a few days. But the heat will be back later in the week. Forecast charts indicate a better-than-average chance we surpass the 100-degree mark by Saturday. That could last a couple of days.

I bet Vancouver sets a new record high Monday. The existing record for June 21 is 94 degrees in 1990. Any way you look at it, this month will go into the record books as a warm one, with the average mean temperature already running more than 2 degrees above normal.

That bout of rain we had last week did help our drought situation. The evaluation is done every Thursday, and as of a couple days ago, Clark County had dropped to moderate from the severe category.

That’s good news, but with the heat this week, we’ll be back in the severe category for sure.

Looking at long-range models, it sure appears we are in for another hot summer. I was hoping for a rainy one.

With excessive heat expected into the first week of July, fire danger will rise. With fireworks occurring, everyone must be extremely careful. It could be a powder keg out there as the heat and dryness stay with us.

How much rain have we had so far this month? Vancouver officially has measured 1.47 inches, which is a quarter of an inch above average. The normal rainfall for June is 1.79 inches. I doubt we’ll be able to add any rain the rest of the month.

In June 2020, we had a deluge of rain and ended up with 3.40 inches in the record books.

Enjoy the hot weather, and keep hydrated. I’ll be in the shade.