March has arrived and perhaps it will get off to a better start than February. Saturday, Vancouver reached a high of 49 degrees, which was the warmest since Feb. 2 when we had 50.
Today will be another sunny day, with the highs edging downward through Tuesday. With a modified arctic air mass east of the Cascades and strong easterly winds, we’ll struggle to top 40 degrees. Overnight it will tumble into the 20s.
We won’t have moisture to deal with the cold air mass. However, a system is forecast to move through central Oregon, bringing precipitation northward.
Any snowfall would be brief as snow levels bounce up to 1,500 to 2,000 feet. Temperatures will rise into the mid 40s later in the week, still some 10 degrees below average.
As I mentioned the other day, the outlook for the first two weeks of March is for much colder than normal. Not great weather for fun activities, so bundle up. Skies were also clear Saturday along the Washington Coast, with highs in the low to mid-50s with a good stiff north to northeast wind. There were many kites a flying.
A reader asked why the forecasts and other information on this page are different than those of the National Weather Service. One must remember the same with your smartphone applications, they all come from a variety of sources, both government and private. If you see information provided by, AccuWeather, for example, the forecasts are made by that service and not the NWS.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. http://patricktimm.com
