Oh. how we love those sea breezes! They finally cleared our smoke-filled skies, and by Monday afternoon, we could see blue sky again. Yes, there were some high clouds, but at least the air was fresh.
A large area of low pressure is off our coastline and digging further southward. This will give us a southwest flow of air and keep us from getting too hot this week. Temperatures in the 80s are forecast. It will also keep the smoke away, as well.
Computer forecast models show the cool and damp air mass moving east later this week, bringing us an increased threat of cool, cloudy and showery weather for the weekend. And we can really use that. I hope enough moisture can make it over the Cascades into the wildfires. We’ll see if this expected pattern can hold.
Even if we manage some rain, it won’t be a complete weather pattern change, I don’t believe. The extended outlook through the remaining months of the year are forecast to be warmer and drier than average. I’ll share the latest information from our state climate office:
We all have heard that El Niño conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are expected to linger through the winter of 2015-16. The state climate office says, “The three-month seasonal forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center are representing the tendency for El Niño winters to be warmer and drier than usual in the Pacific Northwest.”
The outlook for September through November calls for above-average temperatures for the entire state but especially for western Washington. The odds of lower than average precipitation is elevated for the entire state. This trend continues into December.
Remember that for us weather and climate folks, autumn begins on Sept. 1. So September, October and November are considered the autumn months and December, January and February winter.
While we can hope and pray for a large-scale weather change, it is still summer for a few more days and we often get quite nice weather in September and October, even without the El Nino effect. This year, the odds are much higher that it is a warm and dry autumn.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com
