Weather Eye: Rain, rain won’t go away this week, but drying trend on its way

A dreary Wednesday with nonstop rain — not on the heavy side as it was a warm frontal rain. The cold front following could offer heavier showers and snow in the mountains today.

Snow did fall, several inches of it at the passes over Mount Hood in Oregon, but as of 4 p.m. Wednesday rain was falling as freezing levels jumped. Still, snow was falling above 5,000 feet in the higher ski areas. This will extend the ski season a bit.

No dry weather this week as more moisture slides over us Friday through the weekend. It is still looking like drying next week and warm afternoon highs into the 70s. I don’t know how long it will last but if things turn out we could see three nice days.

Downtown Vancouver remains the dry spot in Clark County with less than two-tenths of an inch as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, resulting in below average rain so far in April. Most areas had closer to a third of an inch or higher. That will change as the cold front moves through. We will be officially above average, is my prediction.

What was going on last year at this time weather wise? One year ago in my column I mentioned this: “I had one email from a reader that she forgot and didn’t heed my warning in Sunday’s column of possible frost on Monday morning. She lost her fuchsia basket on her deck. Overnight lows were in the 30s countywide, 35 degrees officially at Pearson Field but the outlying areas had plenty of frost on rooftops and grass.”

And so it goes, cold, dry and windy last year, wet this year.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com.