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News / Clark County News

Weather Eye: We’re closing out a January quite unlike the last one

By Patrick Timm
Published: January 30, 2018, 6:00am

This month is a sharp contrast to last January, when it was one of the coldest in Vancouver, and now we have one of the warmest on record. Both are floating in a top 10 of the record books. Boy, did the pendulum swing this year.

No big complaints here except I’m sure water managers are keeping a close weather eye on the snowpack. Recent heavy snows have regained a bit of the depth lost earlier to high freezing levels, but the Cascades in Oregon are still only about half of expected average. It is slightly better the farther north you go in Washington.

A vigorous cold front went through Monday afternoon and evening with heavy rain and strong winds along the Washington Coast and breezy and moderate rain here in Clark County. As of 4 p.m., Vancouver had 5.30 inches in the rain gauge for the month, about a half-inch above average. For a while this month, I was wondering if we would make up for the first half of the month. It has and can stop any time, please.

Showers abound today and Wednesday, and I’m thinking we could get some partial clearing Wednesday, both in the morning and evening, and maybe a glimpse of the full blood blue moon. The lunar eclipse begins around 4 a.m. to our west. The moon rises in early evening to our west. Then again, we may have cloud cover, but I’m setting my early-morning alarm just in case.

OK, looking into early February, we see no snow or arctic cold heading our way; rather, just showers and seasonal temperatures with perhaps, if things work out, a dry weekend? If so, sunshine will push highs close to 60 degrees again. Will we ever see any more winter weather?

As far as the groundhog goes locally, rain is in the forecast on Friday. Back east, Punxsutawney Phil probably won’t see his shadow, either due to the forecast of cloudy skies and snow flurries. Whether a shadow is present or not, there are six more weeks of winter, according to the calendar. Sorry, Phil.


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

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