Weather Eye: Cool, clouds will briefly depart for weekend before more rain

We’ve been enjoying our usual spate of June clouds and sun with a few scattered showers thrown in for good measure. Some folks have received more weather than perhaps they would like. Heavy downpours and thundershowers were hit and miss Tuesday and Wednesday but if you were caught under one of those dark clouds it was a gully washer.

A few funnel clouds were observed over the Portland-Vancouver area mid-afternoon Wednesday. These are cold core funnels and usually do not reach the ground but when they do, it is a tornado.

Instead of the upper 70s and low 80s of a few days ago, afternoon temperatures were quite cool in the low to mid-60s. At 1 p.m. Wednesday, Spokane was only 52 degrees while Fairbanks Alaska was 85 degrees!

A heat wave is setting all-time records in Alaska. Valdez was 89 degrees Wednesday afternoon breaking the all-time high temperature record of 87 degrees set June 25 and 26, 1953.

Despite the rain this month and the heavy hit and miss showers, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Vancouver was running about a quarter inch of rain below average.

The upper-level low responsible for the clouds and showers is slowly moving off to the east today but a chance of scattered showers still exist. Temperatures will slowly warm. Drier conditions are expected later Friday and all-day Saturday before another trough of low pressures settles in, keeping the last week of June on the damp side. Oh well, July 5th is coming!

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at Weather Systems.