Signs of autumn are showing up everywhere around the county. Many of the neighborhood ornamental maple trees are turning brilliant red near the treetops. Our old friend the woolly bear caterpillar can be seen lazily strolling across the wooded pathways and walking trails. The nights are longer, and the streetlights turn on much earlier now.
The weather, however, is, behaving more like mid-summer rather than what we call meteorological fall. Of course, many of you say, “Hey, the calendar still shows summer until autumn officially arrives at 6:03 p.m. Sept. 22.”
Tuesday’s high in Vancouver topped off at 92 degrees — hot, but not near the record for the date of 99 degrees in 1958. The other hot day this month was 91 degrees on Sept. 1. Any hotter days ahead? Yes, of course.
We chatted the other day about our first east wind event of fall. That will begin Friday, with highs in the upper 80s to near 90. On Saturday, we should reach the low to mid-90s. Humidity will be 15 percent to 20 percent.
This translates to extremely high fire danger everywhere, even along the coast. Please be careful if camping or hiking. No driving on unpaved back roads; sparks could fly and ignite grasses. Everything is so dry right now — a tinderbox, so to speak.
We logged our 27th day of 90 degrees or higher Tuesday. Saturday would be 28, and perhaps Friday if winds are not raging. If we reach 29 days, we will tie our record number of 90-degree days in one calendar year. I’ll be keeping a close watch on that statistic for sure.
I still don’t see any rain heading our way, but the atmosphere now looks like we’ll have seasonal highs next week in the 75-to-80-degree range, with some cloudiness at times. Some forecast charts earlier had indicated 90 degrees next week, but that has evaporated out of the picture. Could Saturday be our last 90-degree day? Taking any bets?
Take good care. Enjoy the brief hot weather coming up, and beware of gusty east winds in the usual places.
Join me on Sunday, and we’ll chat again.
