Did it ever rain Friday or what? By midnight Friday, 1.94 inches of rain had fallen in Vancouver — a new record for Nov. 4. Tyler Mode in Battle Ground measured 3.40 inches, and there were reports of over 7 inches of rain near Cougar.
It was windy, too, with gusts of up to 40 mph. The heavy rain and gusty winds sure did a job on the leaves that were still hanging on to the trees.
Fortunately, the massive atmospheric river didn’t hang around all that long. Many times, the band of heavy rain settles in on a narrow strip of real estate and stalls, dumping inches and inches of rain. I’m sure we will have many more episodes this winter.
As of 5 p.m. Saturday, our rainfall this month in Vancouver totaled 2.33 inches, well above average.
Weather observer Chuck Houghten in Hockinson Heights recorded 3.12 inches from 7 a.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday. He measured 4.35 inches for the storm total, and his November total was 5.16 inches as of early Saturday.
The heavy rain is over for now, and we have a cold air mass over us. It will continue to cool over the next several days. Moderate to heavy snow is falling in the mountains after a good share was washed away Friday.
Chuck mentioned this in his email to me: “It looks like folks could be skiing and playing in mountain snow by Veterans Day, which doesn’t happen often. Should be an interesting winter ahead with a variety of conditions.”
I think Chuck is correct. Meanwhile, after cold showers today and Monday, we’ll tend to dry out by midweek, with cold nights as skies clear. We should see lows into the 20s here in Clark County, even in the inner urban areas. Prepare for frosty conditions if the clear skies hold all night.
