Weather Eye: Get ready to water plants: Warm, dry air arrives

This week must be what weather forecasters in southern climates or the tropics experience. A row of sun icons on the seven-day extended forecast. That is what we expect locally this week, sunny skies today through the weekend as it appears right now, almost unprecedented for April.

Those easterly winds arrived Monday and will stay with us to some degree most of the week. By the end of the week we could get some warming effect from the offshore winds and get well into the 70s. Oh what a feeling an 80-degree day would feel like.

First off, however, we must get rid of these cold frosty mornings. Enough already. Sunday morning Vancouver tied the record low of 28 degrees set in 1980. Monday, we dropped to 30 degrees, which was cold indeed, but short of the record low of 27 degrees in 1970.

So where should we be temperature-wise for this date? The average high is 61 degrees and the low, 42 degrees. The good news: We will climb into the 40s for lows as the dry winds keep the air stirred up. That will feel balmy so put away the ice scraper.

The other big news is the dry air mass this week. Afternoon dew points were in the upper teens Monday, which is what we get at times with extreme fire danger and east winds late in August. With less than a tenth of an inch in the official rain gauge this month and following the dry month of March, you will have to begin watering.

Watering the shrubs and grass in April? Come on Pat, are you kidding? I wish. I haven’t seen such a dry start to spring in 30 or 40 years. I’ll have to dust off the record books and do some investigation.

It isn’t all that bad, with plenty of water stored in the good snowpack in the mountains. And dry, sunny weather to get outside for work or play. Even though it is early in the year, several days with these dry winds will raise fire danger quickly to elevations below the snow level. Be careful.

So, there you have it. I’ll get back to my bench on the front porch and take in the vitamin D.

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