Saturday was National Weatherperson’s Day. What did I do on my special day? Not much other than enjoying the weak sunshine that graced our landscape. Thank goodness it was a quiet weather day as I wrote this column Saturday afternoon, with not so much to think about.
Get this: No rain is in the forecast this week. Surprised? We have seen this before last month, with one dry weekend after another. The only caveat when we have solid high pressure over us in winter is the inversion that typically develops: warmer air aloft and cooler air at the surface. So that will be a possibility on any given day this week.
I hope we’ll get some east winds out of the gorge to help lift the fog. But still, I expect highs to be near normal, which is 50 degrees now.
If I were to believe a few forecast models, we could flirt with 60 degrees for a high by the end of the week. Spring fever is not far away.
The latter half of the month could have cooler and wetter weather upon us, with lower snow levels once again. We’ll see if that develops or whether we’ll keep the mundane weather pattern of late.
With calm air overnight and some partial clearing, scattered frost is also on the menu — especially in the colder, wind-sheltered locations.
I was curious about what I was writing last year at this time, so I went to the archives. I discovered that the groundhog saw his shadow last year, as he did this year. We had a couple days of rain, with temperatures in the 50s, and the frogs were out with their loud chorus in the nighttime hours.
We had been on snow watch off and on, but there was nothing to write home about. I mentioned an early spring in keeping with the outlook of the woolly bears, which predicted a mild winter.
Then, several days later, we had up to a foot of snow in Felida and Salmon Creek, with highs on Feb. 12 and 13 below freezing and lows at 25 degrees.
I received several emails from frustrated readers complaining about the missed forecast by the woolly bears. Look at it this way: They were buried underneath that foot of snow on the ground. Karma?
It’s always fun to look back. Take good care.
