Weather Eye: Despite winter’s gray, encouraging colors emerge

Wednesday was an uneventful weather day, with plenty of that winter gray hanging around, although I thought I saw the sun peek out just before noon. How about you? There was enough of the foggy mist to be measurable at .01 of an inch at the official rain gauge in Vancouver.

Rainfall for the month is a paltry .31 of an inch, well over 2 inches below average. Our high and low Wednesday were 53 and 34 degrees — close to the averages for the date at 51 and 35 degrees. The heaviest one-day rain this month has been .14 of an inch — on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

Expect more gray skies today but partly sunny skies Friday. Showers will increase Saturday after dark, continuing into Sunday. Highs will be only in the low to mid-40s, with snow in the mountains down to our foothills.

A cold north/northwesterly flow of air from Alaska will reinforce winter’s grip on us, with snow levels down to nearly the valley floors but little moisture to contend with. The bottom line here is continued mountain snow showers and mostly rain showers here in the city.

Our friends higher up can see some snowflakes falling. Remember, at this time, moisture will be on the light side here. We’ll take another look at it in Sunday’s column and see if nature has a late-winter shot in store for us.

Meanwhile, despite the gray skies, I see plenty of bright yellow at ground level, with clumps of daffodils here and there. With the cool weather coming up, those bright, sunny faces will last for a long time. There is more color in some local rhodies and heather.

So, despite the overcast skies, encouraging colors are cheerfully waving at us.

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“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.”

— Gertrude S. Wister

“Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle — a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.”

— Barbara Winkler