A good winter storm is upon us today with rain and showers and low snow levels. A winter storm warning is in effect for heavy snow in the Cascades. Some favored westerly exposed ridges could get 3 feet of snow by the time action slows down early Saturday.
It is possible our foothills and coast range mountains get some snow as well. How fitting that the last days of the meteorological winter have a cold and wet air mass over us. It was chilly Wednesday wasn’t it? Even with mostly sunny skies, Vancouver had a high of 48 degrees and a low of 31. Both temperatures well below average.
As the wet and blustery weather calms down over the weekend, it may hold Monday as March arrives, I’d rather welcome a lamb than the gruffly lion. Last month we had to deal with the groundhog. What’s next? Bah humbug.
Spring begins for us weather folks, and from Monday on for awhile it all goes into the spring record books.
In 2019 I wrote this: “Hail, hail, the weather is here, another round of ice and cold is always near! What an opening for today’s column. There were some crazy hail storms yesterday with some covering the ground 1and 2 inches deep. Traffic came to a crawl on I-5 near the 78th Street exit in Hazel Dell as hail covered the freeway.”
We even had a winter storm watch for snow two years ago about this time. February 2019 went down as the coldest one in 30 years since the icebox of 1989.
An old saying goes like this: “As it rains in March, so it rains in June.” In March of 2012 we had 7.81 inches of rain (more than last month) followed by 3.47 inches in June. We won’t use that old piece of folklore this year. Forget I even mentioned it.
Still have to wash the snow crud off the car. Maybe this weekend. Take care.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. ptimmwriter@gmail.com
