Weather Eye: With no severe weather in sight, enjoy your autumn

Nearly halfway through the month, and October is behaving in an odd way. Of course, it’s much cooler than what we have become accustomed to.

Our average mean temperature in Vancouver is only 52.4 degrees, 5 degrees below normal. Rainfall is still only half of average. Storms are rolling through but have little to offer.

We expect scattered showers once again today and afternoon temperatures in the 50s — cool, gray and damp. On Tuesday morning, most areas had their first frost of the season.

Even though the official reporting station for Vancouver at Pearson Field remained above the freezing point, many in Vancouver including downtown told me you had to scrape frost off your windshields that morning.

Outlying areas dipped into the upper 20s, and much of the county had its first frost about a week or two early. Signs of winter arriving soon?

La Niña has increased a bit, so odds are we’ll endure a cool and wet winter. That also means plenty of snow in the mountains. I see Timberline Lodge had 7 inches of snow on the ground early Wednesday.

A couple of early-morning readers out for their walk Tuesday morning sent me pictures of woolly bear caterpillars, but it was difficult to measure the middle orange band. Why? Because they were curled tightly into a ball. After all, folks, it was frosty and cold. I’ll share the consensus of their winter prediction soon.

Friday and Saturday are looking warmer and drier, with highs back in the 60s, so enjoy the warmth while you can, as more cold rain falls on Sunday. Early next week looks dry and mild. We’ll chat on Sunday to see how long that should hold.

I’ll be sharing last month’s local soaking rainfall amounts from your friends and neighbors with you on Sunday.

Keep raking or blowing the leaves away in the yard. Halloween decorations outside are safe from strong winds. No severe weather is on the horizon, so enjoy autumn at its finest — a little damp, a little dry and nothing to make us cry.

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