Our dry spell continues and if we could get rid of all the clouds that tend to persist, we could shout with glee. Looking ahead for the rest of the week, clouds should be on the decrease and the sun should be shining more brightly even at the lower angle. No rain in the forecast through the upcoming weekend.
The first week of the month has had four days with overnight lows at or below freezing — common for early February but still a little below average. That high on Sunday of 58 degrees made up for that chilly 44 degrees on Groundhog’s Day. On Monday, Vancouver made it to 51 degrees, about 1 degree above average.
We could use more precipitation as our mountain snowpack in some regions is falling below 100 percent of normal for the date. Mount Hood is at 137 percent of normal. Nothing to worry about, eventually I believe we will be back in the precipitation belt and plenty of snow will fall in higher elevations. This weather isn’t behaving like a typical La Nina year.
With clear skies and an offshore wind later in the week that will push temperatures along the Northern Oregon and Southern Washington coastline to 60 degrees and higher. We could see some record highs there. Locally we can expect to reach that 60-degree mark if the east winds aren’t too strong. I think we’ll do it. Anyway, no matter where you go in the state it should be fairly nice except in the Columbia Basin as fog and low clouds may persist.
