Weather Eye: Heat should ease this week, but summer’s certainly not finished

At 4 p.m. Saturday, it was 95 degrees in Vancouver, hot enough to keep most folks inside. The brave ones, I’m sure, were dressed for the occasion and keeping close to the shade. Temperatures are high but still below record highs in most areas.

Friday’s east winds were strong, scattering limbs and twigs across yards and roadways around the county. My back deck was a mess, thanks to the tall fir trees to my east.

Winds Saturday were more limited in scope, but the hot, dry air remained. It will shift eastward today, lowering highs into the more manageable 80s. Monday and Tuesday will see 70s, then back to 80s by Wednesday — and maybe, if we get offshore winds, into the 90s by the end of the week. So warm and dry for the next week at least.

It was hot around the Puget Sound — 90 degrees in Seattle — not common for September.

Humidity around the inland valleys was at 8 to 15 percent Saturday. That is dry, very dry. Fire danger is extreme under these conditions.

Now, if you wanted cooler conditions Saturday, you could have gone to the coast where it was in the mid-80s — or east of the mountains in central and eastern Washington, where it was also in the low to mid-80s. Unusually, I could not find one 90-degree temperature east of the mountains at 4 p.m. Saturday. That is because the heat low was in western Washington. Today, it will warm up east-side and cool down here.

Is this hot weather unusual for September? Not at all. We chatted about it a week or two ago here. September’s east winds always give us a shot of hot, dry weather, almost every year.

We haven’t seen the end of summer quite yet. Enjoy!