Weather Eye: Wildfire smoke pushes us back below 100 degrees

As we thought, that pesky wildfire smoke arrived and polluted our air even at lower levels at times. The smoke was so dense aloft that it blocked the sun: We never reached 100 degrees as forecast on Friday, topping out at 95. We managed 101 degrees on Wednesday and 103 degrees on Thursday.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, our high here in Vancouver was 91 degrees. Today we have an almost identical day, with cooling arriving in the evening hours. It will be more seasonal on Monday and Tuesday, but the chance of light rain is out of the picture, except possibly along our coastline.

Our average mean temperature this month as of Saturday was 76 degrees, 6 degrees above average. It’s been a warmer summer indeed. The cooldown Monday and Tuesday will be short-lived as we get back to highs near 90 degrees, maybe upper 80s if we are lucky. It may not be a heat wave, but it’s way above the seasonal norms.

With the cooler air mass arriving early Monday, at least we will have a couple days of overnight lows dipping into the 50s and maybe upper 40s in the outlying areas. Ah, better sleeping weather.

It takes a hot air mass centered right over us to get much above 100 degrees now as the daylight hours dwindle, the sun angle lowers, and weather patterns shift ever so slowly toward a new season. In Vancouver, we have had one day so far this month with a high in the 70s, six days in the 80s, five days in the 90s and two days in the 100s.

I expect the remaining days of August to be warm. Climate experts are predicting that September and October will present us with warmer-than-average temperatures.

Officially, the dog days of summer ended on Wednesday; however, my pup is still curled up in a ball in her bed, lingering in those lazy dog days of summer.

After today, the heat and the smoke move eastward and refreshing ocean air moves inland for a couple of days. Enjoy the respite early this week.