Weather Eye: Despite Saturday’s sunshine, rain remains in our forecast

As I look out my window writing my column at 4 p.m. Saturday, I see Vancouver basking in sunshine. The other day, I thought we would see more shower activity than we did Saturday, but at least we received a healthy dose of rainfall, with over half an inch in the rain bucket from Friday evening’s storm. Our foothills had an inch or more.

Today we’ll see another break in the action before the next storm rolls in. We’re looking at rain Monday, showers Tuesday, a possible improvement Wednesday, and then more rain Thursday and Friday.

It was cool Saturday: Even with full sunshine, the thermometer hung around the 60-degree mark. Several inches of snow fell above 4,000 feet, and on the webcam at the Timberline lodge, I see they have installed the snow tunnel leading into the front entrance. The roof was covered, and snow was piled up in the parking lot.

We always say that snow in October and November comes and goes, but snow in December stays and grows. The next two weather systems promise more mountain snow, and the higher ski areas could have a couple feet dressing the slopes.

It was nice to have cleaner air to breathe Saturday, but in between storms the next week or so, we could see some smoke drifting downhill.

Our nights will be on the cool side, even with cloud cover and rain. If we get some clearing, expect a rapid drop in low temperatures, with fog and light frost in the colder locations. Clouds may end up dominating, however.

Despite the rain, October is still well below normal. Last year at this time, we were inundated with heavy rains and well above average. Winter is lurking around the corner.