Are you enjoying the longer hours of daylight now? The sun sets close to 5:30 p.m. and it is daylight until 6 p.m. if skies are somewhat clear. We are gaining at a fast pace now. Nature shows signs of emerging from the grasp of winter’s touch. Pussy willows are popping out on time, daffodils are rising toward the skies and other late winter foliage like heather are showing their delicate but brilliant color. A promise of things to come.
The weather forecast for the next several days appears uneventful with clouds, light showers, sunshine, fog and maybe frost. Let’s see. What did I leave out? In a weather pattern such as this with the main jet stream slamming into California, I feel like an artist with a blank canvas and only broad brushing the artwork. Not much of a picture to paint.
That’s OK, damaging windstorms, ice storms or monsoonlike rain we can do without. This weather pattern is most typical of the El Nino winter. That arctic cold last month was only a brief interruption of the jet stream oscillation. Back in the doldrums for us.
For the first seven days of February, Vancouver’s average mean temperature is running 5 degrees above normal. We haven’t had a high temperature yet below 50 degrees. In the rain department we are over one-half inch below average. Our temperature extremes range from a high of 61 degrees and a low of 27 degrees.
