Weather Eye: Help your mind, spirit by soaking up this sunshine

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And as the luck of the Irish would have it, we have a nice sunny and warm day ahead of us. Wearing the green today? At least the snow is gone and we can see the green grass. I hope everyone is being well and safe, and — please — enjoy sunshine this week. Try to soak it up, which will help the mind and spirit.

It was an unusual day Monday. Lows overnight remained in the 30s in areas affected by the east winds and down into the 20s in many locations. You know where you are. And after having snow on the ground Sunday at least in the shade, some folks were in T-shirts and shorts cutting the grass.

And speaking of social distancing, joggers at Fuller Park in Salmon Creek could be seen separating from each other 6 feet or so as they passed one another under those sunny skies. On a positive note, the air outside is nice and fresh.

We should remain dry through the week with varying amounts of high clouds. The next chance of showers is, of course the weekend.

That would be the fourth week in a row with this pattern. And the low swinging by is another cold one from Alaska. The good news is that one reliable forecast model keeps it offshore, so we may escape any rain at all. Fingers crossed.

I’ll share last month’s rainfall from your friends and neighbors in Thursday’s column. The snow played havoc with those flowering trees Saturday. Many branches can be seen broken and hanging from these seasonal blooming trees. Fortunately, the rest of our deciduous trees are still leafless.

Checking the rain, I see that Vancouver is once again having a month with below average rainfall, nearly two-thirds of an inch. And the average mean temperature was only 44 degrees, three degrees below average. We did enjoy that great 62-degree high temperature Monday however.

We will chat on Thursday, take good care.