Weather Eye: Temperatures rising well into 50s remainder of week

Ever since Valentine’s Day we have hovered in the mid-40s for high temperatures here in Vancouver. As I wrote in this column Monday afternoon, it still hadn’t reached 50 degrees despite the forecast of 52 degrees. Chilly weather indeed and with that I have good news and perhaps not so good news.

First the good news. Temperatures will rise well into the 50s for the remainder of the week and I think we have a good shot of reaching the 60-degree mark by Friday. We’ll see. Also, the drippy off-and-on rain will cease as the storm track ventures well south of the county and we see sunny skies.

OK, the bad news? Only if you do not want colder weather and low snow levels back again. Yep, extended forecast charts indicate colder weather dropping down from the north and maybe a chance of mixed showers and even chilly east winds. That is a long way out yet, but we keep the possibility on our radar. Oh, I’m counting the days until spring.

Vancouver is still running about 2 degrees above average and the rainfall is about one-half inch below average. Milder and drier. Let’s see how the month ends next week; the old crystal ball is cloudy right now.

Insights

As I look back at my long life and the decades and decades of having an eye on the weather, I remember so many personal clues that tie into weather prediction. Outside of science, you know I enjoy all the myriad weather lore and old folk tales.

Here are some personal insights I have either heard or experienced in my lifetime. Did you know that your sense of smell improves before an incoming storm due to atmospheric conditions? That includes both good and bad smells. Your feet and legs may swell when the barometer falls, ouch I know.

If the weight scales get you down at times, it is known that you can see a weight increase when a cold front moves overhead. Always ideal to weigh yourself when high pressure abounds. Ben Franklin once said that as sound travels far and wide, a day of rain will soon betide.

And so it goes. When skies clear, the sun is high and the air is cool and dry, it makes it feel that all is well.