At 4 p.m. Monday guess where the hottest location was in the state of Washington, according to the regular reporting stations? You would probably think east of the mountains where it was over 100 degrees last week. But nope, Vancouver USA was the warmest at 90 degrees.
I can tell you it was a clear day and blue skies were above us but smoke from wildfires in British Columbia and those from south of us in Oregon and California were overhead. A complex pattern of wind circulation gave us a double whammy. There was also a drift of northeast winds through the Cascade gaps that brought some lower-level smoke.
I’m afraid we will have the same pattern today and Wednesday with hazy skies and hot temperatures at 90 degrees and above. We get a fresh shot of cooler marine air off the coast Thursday and Friday that should help bring back our blue skies and keep us in the 80s. But we go back to more hazy hot weather over the weekend.
That weak weather system that brought cooler air and some showers Saturday was a welcome relief for some folks. Our local weather observers in the foothills reported up to a quarter-inch of rain. Officially, Vancouver only had a trace, keeping our dry stretch going. Portland had .01 of an inch at the airport.
Our last rainfall in Vancouver was on July 2 with a paltry .02 of an inch. So, 43 days without measurable rain now and counting. Monday was the 26th day with highs at or above 90 degrees. We could have a record 30 days by next week.
