Remember that balmy day on the first of the month? Temperatures in the low 60s, convertibles driving down the roadways, golfers out on the fairway. That was only a little over a week ago, but it seems more distant to me. I’m wearing my fleece jacket now but about ready to switch to my down jacket.
Wednesday we managed to reach 48 degrees, 1 degree above normal. But get this, that occurred at 2 a.m. in the morning. Temperatures lowered during the daytime into the low 40s with scattered light showers. A light northerly breeze added to the wind chill. Definitely wintertime, at least meteorologically, that is.
Rain had turned to snow in the Cascade passes midday Wednesday and by 5 p.m. it was in the mid-20s with blowing snow, the nice powder type for the ski areas. It will continue to pile up for the next week or so and at times the snow level may drop to 1,000 feet into our foothills. The nice powder snow will remain in the ski areas. Enough to open limited operations shortly.
No snow here for us in the lowlands. I know many of you are saying, “Whew!” and others “Aw shucks.” If you are a longtime resident of Clark County, you may remember the cold snap in 1972. On this day in 1972, Vancouver had a high of only 26 degrees and a low in the single digits with 6 degrees. We’ll keep that in the mountains for now.
