Weather Eye: Our heat will ease, but there’s little chance of rain

The temperature in Vancouver was hovering at around 90 degrees at 5 p.m. Wednesday, adding to our record string of 90-degree weather. If you are tired of the excessive heat, I have great news for you: We’ll settle into the 80s today through Saturday, with mostly sunny skies.

After Saturday, we’ll get back to seasonal weather, with highs around 70, inching up a little by Wednesday. There may be some cloudiness or at least morning clouds and afternoon sunshine. We’ll see how that develops. There’s little chance of measurable rain anytime soon.

Speaking of measurable rainfall, several of our local weather observers witnessed a deluge from those thunderstorms drifting off the foothills late Monday afternoon.

Dave Campbell near Heisson, which was the bull’s-eye on the radar during the storm, measured over 2.5 inches of rain, with 1 inch of that coming in only 10 minutes. That is quite intense for locations west of the Cascades. I would say it’s unusual, along with the unusual heat wave in May.

Most of the county away from the foothills received only sprinkles, but the most impressive lightning display in many years was on the forefront for all to see. That resulted from that low-pressure system I mentioned earlier that migrated from the Great Basin westward. The whole weather pattern recently has been unusual.

It will be nice to return to the more quiet weather that we expect in May. The forecast for the big parade in Hazel Dell on Saturday looks great, with temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s and mostly sunny skies. Sunglasses, sunblock and sunshades will be in order. The parade will log in another fair-weather day, as it has for the past four decades.

One thing up in the air is the weather beyond Wednesday of next week. I’d keep it mild, with 70-degree weather, but several weather models haven’t decided if another ridge of high pressure will build in toward us. If it does, we should swing back into hot weather. We’ll keep that on our radar.

Take good care.