The beginning of the rainy season began Friday although the first storm wasn’t as robust as typical autumn rain storms, but hey it was a start. The second weather front moved through on Monday and was a lackluster with less than a quarter-inch of rain falling here in Vancouver. The foothills probably had higher amounts, of course.
Vancouver as of 5 p.m. Monday is still running over 2 inches below average in the rainfall department. The third in a series of weather systems arrives late today and tonight with another quarter- to one-half inch of rain with the higher amounts in the foothills. We have a break later in the week and it is possible we get a good downpour by the weekend, if some weather forecast models are correct. Other forecast models say lighter amounts will fall.
The air mass is cool overhead and colder air will arrive tonight with snow levels dropping to 3,500 feet in the Cascades. Four inches upward to a foot of snow could fall in the higher elevations. Don’t get too excited snow lovers, the weekend storm may have warmer air with snow levels bouncing up to 8,000 feet and heavy rain on the slopes. Remember what I said in Sunday’s column about autumn snows in the Cascades.
Some forecast charts indicate we could get a mild to moderate pineapple express this weekend and if so, that would certainly catch us up as far as the monthly rain total goes. Remember last week we were running over 8 degrees above average with our average mean temperatures? That has now fallen to less than 7 degrees above normal. On Friday, we only managed to reach 54 degrees for a high temperature.
