I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. At least the weather wasn’t all that bad: partly sunny with increasing clouds. The rain held off until 8 p.m. or so and was on the lighter side of things.
Our friends in Northwest Washington and along the coast had the brunt of the wet stuff as another atmospheric river took aim at the Evergreen State.
More heavy rain hit British Columbia and northern Washington on Friday and Saturday, which they did not need. An atmospheric river took aim once again at that area.
Clark County remains on the southern perimeter of the heavy rain belt. We’ll keep rain or showers in the forecast for the extended period. However, I think we will have drier conditions this week.
The rain on Thanksgiving, light as it was, put Vancouver over the 6-inch mark for the month, which is right at average. We’ll add to that over the next couple of days before December arrives, but nothing record-breaking. That helps with the official drought conditions; we are getting close to being out of that category. November will be the third straight month with above-average rainfall, which hasn’t occurred for the last couple of years.
The mountains had a decent snowfall last Tuesday, even at pass levels, but that has vanished as freezing levels have been really high, between 8,000 and 10,000 feet. Snow levels will remain high this week, but some colder air may slip down east of the mountains from the interior of British Columbia. If so, east winds will deliver cool and dry air to us. However, little moisture will be falling from the skies.
The first day of the meteorological winter is Wednesday. In December 2015, Vancouver had a record 16.03 inches of rain; since then, we haven’t had a December with average rainfall. This year, the first week of December doesn’t appear to be too soggy, but as we know, things can quickly change.
We will enjoy above-average temperatures until late in the week; next weekend, cooler temperatures will arrive.
Take good care.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. ptimmwriter@gmail.com
