Weather Eye: Sunny days slip away with fall rainstorm on horizon

I hope you enjoyed that sunny 75-degree day Wednesday as it is all downhill beginning today. If it’s overcast today, we could experience some light drizzle, but the big event holds off until Friday night. Daylight hours Friday could be pleasant.

A cold trough of low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska will slowly make its way inland Friday evening with rain on the coast and in the valleys by midnight. The associated cold front will produce some gusty winds here locally in the 25 to 35 mph range, nothing damaging but enough to start the leaves tumbling to the ground.

I expect rainfall here in the city to be about 1.5 inches over the weekend and at least 3 inches in our foothill communities. Yeah, a real fall rainstorm heading our way. However, don’t despair as it appears our favorite high pressure will rebuild and present some nice autumn weather early next week with highs back in the 70s.

Hey, we aren’t done with that hazy sunshine quite yet. Tuesday’s high was 79 degrees. We may have seen the last of 80-degree days unless we get an offshore flow of air next week and full sunshine. It is getting late for that, but let’s see what October sunshine can do for us.

I’m gathering the local rainfall reports from last month and will share with you soon. One local observer, Chuck Houghten of Hockinson Heights, shared his annual winter forecast. “I am thinking drier and warmer than normal; but also expect some good storms mixed in at times throughout the winter. I think that the mountains should get a decent snowpack, but again, it may be less than normal.”

Last year about this time in October we were having the coldest start to October in nearly 50 years. We already had our first 32-degree low here in the city and of course plenty of frost on the pumpkins in the outlying locations. This October so far, it is one of the warmest at 7 degrees above average.

Keep warm and dry and we’ll chat on a damp Sunday.