Weather Eye: Parade of storms could leave us with plenty to talk about

Rain will be falling each day for the next five days in the form of steady rainfall or showers. I can’t even see a sunny day on the horizon anytime soon. We are finally getting the weather we should have had in November and December. Late start to the rainy season, I’d say.

I hope you enjoyed the partial clearing Saturday and those balmy temperatures. At the time of this writing Saturday afternoon, it was 58 degrees here in Vancouver. And this is the dead of winter? Still don’t see any cold weather heading our way the rest of the month. Perhaps after Groundhog Day we may see temperatures lower a bit into the chilly category at least overnight.

Folks, are we on a roll or what? As of Saturday afternoon, Vancouver had 5.03 inches of rain in the bucket for January. That is nearly a half-inch above average. When was the last time we were talking about above-average rainfall? It’s been awhile.

With the rain today and Monday, don’t be surprised if it gets a little on the breezy side of things. Hang on to your hat. Just typical stormy January weather. Winds along the coast may reach 50 mph, but the strongest winds should remain offshore as the low passes by to the north. Locally 25-35 mph.

With the heavy rain last week, about 8 to 10 inches fell in the Willapa Hills and Mount St. Helens near Cougar. The excessive rains have closed Highway 4 going from Longview to Long Beach due to a huge landslide near KM Mountain. The highway was also closed when the Grays River flooded the highway. It may be closed for some time, and with more heavy rain this coming week, more trouble is likely.

We haven’t had to talk about landslides and river flooding for a long while. Usually these are common in most of our rainy winter weather episodes. We will chat again on Tuesday and see if we have any dry weather and sunshine heading our way after the upcoming parade of storms.