Weather Eye: Moderate rain should clear out by New Year’s Eve

After a week of cold weather, the next couple of days are going to feel tropical with afternoon highs at or above 50 degrees. OK, not actually tropical, but it will feel warm compared to the past several days. We enjoyed our white Christmas, and that one is in the record books.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, it was still on the chilly side, from 32 degrees and light snow at Bellingham to 35 degrees here in Vancouver under cloudy skies. In contrast, just miles south of Portland, it was in the 50s. The welcome warm front was on its way.

Today and Friday we’ll see some moderate rains over us, so we will chip away at our deficit in that department. Freezing levels bounce and rain falls at the ski areas. The weekend dries out just in time for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

I don’t see any cold and snow falling in the new year as of yet. There is another cold air mass in northern Canada that will move southward over the next 10 to 14 days, so we will see if any makes it into the Columbia Basin.

It is amazing how just leftovers from an arctic front heading east of the Rockies can seep westward into the Columbia Basin and can actually build its own high pressure. That in turn fans through the Gorge and places us here in the lowlands into the deep freeze. And as we know, forecast models are always too quick to warm us up.

So I wouldn’t rule out another cold spell or snowfall just yet. Two months of winter is on the horizon, folks.

At least the daylight hours will slowly be extending. On another positive note, I had no complaints about the Christmas Eve snowfall. Put folks in a good spirit, I think, even if it hampered traffic a bit.

Spotted at the beach the other day while Vancouver was having its snowfall, one Long Beach resident posted a yard sign, “I’d rather shuffle sand than shovel snow.” And so it goes with us Washingtonians, a bit of humor no matter what the clouds do bring.

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

Related Stories