Paltry precipitation numbers in December and January had some people in Washington whispering drought earlier this winter.
Then the faucet turned on.
A wet February gave way to an even wetter March, dumping 6.52 inches of rain in Vancouver for the month — almost 3 inches above normal.
This year wasn’t the wettest March on record in Vancouver. That bar was set in 1916, when the city recorded 8.38 inches of rain for the month, according to the National Weather Service in Portland.
Actually, 2014 produced only the third-wettest March in the last four years. March 2011 and 2012 both measured more precipitation in Vancouver than this year, according to the weather service.
“To have these kinds of dry periods, and go to these kinds of wet springs, it’s not extremely unusual,” said Liana Ramirez, a meteorologist with the weather service in Portland.
The shift also fueled a remarkable comeback in the state’s mountain snowpack. Several areas of Western Washington languished with less than half their normal snowpack in early January. Among the worst was the Lower Columbia Basin of Southwest Washington, which measured at just 31 percent of normal at one point, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
As of Tuesday, much of the state had fully caught up or even exceeded normal snowpack for this time of year. The Lower Columbia basin stood at 88 percent of normal. And that was one of just two areas in the entire state below 90 percent. (The NRCS reports snowpack values for 11 different basins in Washington.)
Even as rainy conditions persist through much of this week, the region may get a taste of warmer weather early next week, Ramirez said. Sunny skies could push temperatures in the Portland-Vancouver area above 70 degrees for the first time in 2014, she said.
If the forecast pans out, that milestone would arrive right on cue. On average, Vancouver sees its first 70-degree day on about March 29, according to the weather service.
