Weather Eye: Looking like perfect summer week ahead

One big plus we have locally is that when we have a hot spell, it is usually short-lived, and 90 miles to the west we have a huge air conditioner. The sea surface temperatures are in the 55- to 60-degree range, and when the wind shifts from the west, we sure feel it.

Thank goodness, right? It began to seep inland Friday, and we just missed another 90-degree high temperature with 89 degrees in Vancouver. As of 5 p.m. Saturday, Vancouver managed 81 degrees, almost on the button where it should be.

More of that marine air will be with us for a while, so no more 90 degrees or 100 for that matter. Morning clouds give way to a sunny afternoons with temperatures in the low 80s. The same on Monday, but perhaps not so warm.

Tuesday and Wednesday the ocean air will cease and we enjoy sunny skies and highs in the mid-80s. A slight chance of a renegade shower early Thursday and then partly sunny and temperatures for the high will be below the average of 82 degrees. Rounding up the week we have sunny skies and around 80 degrees Friday and Saturday.

This sounds like a perfect summer week, doesn’t it? Unless you like it hot; take a drive east of the mountains. Boy, they were hot late last week. I mean record heat with some locations at or above 110 degrees. I looked at the highs Saturday on the east side and not one city was even close to 100 degrees.

That was thanks to brisk west to northwest winds that traveled all the way inland from the coast. Good news in one way but bad in another as far as wildfire danger goes. We don’t like winds 25-45 mph this time of the year east of the Cascades.

Last month we tallied six days at 90 degrees or above for a total of eight so far this summer. There was that 100 degrees on July 26 and a cool 51 degrees for a low the day before on July 25. Rainfall was hardly worth mentioning with only 0.08 inch.

Relax and sit back and enjoy the temperate weather this week. We’ll chat on Tuesday.