Weather Eye: Seasonal temperatures, no snow expected this week

January ends tonight and we have had some wild swings in the weather. Vancouver reached highs of 61 degrees on the 12th and 13th and dipped into the 20s twice with 29 degrees on the 22nd and 26 degrees on the 23rd.

Certainly, no problem in the rainfall department. As of late afternoon Saturday, Vancouver had 7.15 inches, about 1.85 inches above average. More rain today will add to that amount. It will remain unsettled with showers through midweek and then higher pressure brings some drier weather.

California will get pounded with more rain and mountain snow. Inches of rain will be directed at California most of the week. The news will continue to report mudslides, heavy snow and tons of rain. They needed the moisture, just not all at once and not so heavy. Nature takes its toll.

I don’t see any freezing or snowy weather this week for us. Temperatures will be seasonal with highs in the 40s to near 50 degrees and lows in the mid-30s to low 40s depending on cloud cover. Our average mean temperature so far for January is 44.2 degrees, 2.7 degrees above normal.

Will the groundhog see his shadow this year on Groundhog’s Day? It may be on the cloudy side locally and back east. Regardless, we always have the same number of days to go for spring to arrive. Let’s hope for an early spring; what do you think?

We are gaining minutes of daylight each day now and by the beginning of March, the sun will be setting at 6 p.m. Of course, daylight saving time arrives soon after. We basically have one month of winter left to go. There is plenty of cold air to the far north in Canada, the coldest of the season.

Some of the cold is forecast to slide down into the U.S. after this week. We’ll see if we get any leftovers via cold storms dropping down the B.C. coast or via our easterly wind from the Gorge. Regardless, that’s why we all are weather watchers and always on snow watch. Enjoy your week.