Weather Eye: As clocks fall back, we’re moving forward toward winter

Thanks to Saturday’s storm I have very few leaves left on the maples overhanging my backyard. Yeah! The winds as the front passed through early Saturday and the post-front westerly winds in the afternoon did the trick.

Wind gusts around Clark County were generally between 25 and 40 mph. Nothing unusual for us in the autumn months, they were the strongest breezes in about a month, however. Rainfall amounts were about one-half inch in the urban areas and over an inch in the foothills.

We’ll deal with a cool unsettled pattern for the next week or so with bouts of rain or showers, clearing periods and high temperatures running below seasonal levels mostly in the upper 40s to low 50s.

Cascade mountains will get more snow off and on, with rain briefly rain in the lower pass elevations ahead of any storms but turning to snow behind fronts. Saturday the snow level slowly lowered, and by late afternoon all Washington passes were reporting snow falling — at Government Camp on Mount Hood as well.

Did you set your clock back Saturday night? I’m trying to figure out if we actually got an extra hour of weather? Who knows — most of us were asleep. You will notice it getting darker much earlier this afternoon. On the flip side it will be a bit lighter in the early-morning hours–for a while.

I am compiling rainfall amounts from your friends and neighbors for October, which was a much drier than average month. We share those in an upcoming column.