Weather Eye: Enjoy Easter indoors: Rain is here through Tuesday

Happy Easter! A stormy day is ahead of us, with rain and windy conditions. The rain could be moderate to heavy at times.

I expect nearly 2 inches of rain to be added to the rain gauge in Vancouver between today and Tuesday, with more in our foothills. At least Saturday was dry, with overcast skies making it a go for outside egg hunts. The kids are happy.

Snow levels are way up to 8,000 feet, so expect plenty of lower-elevation snowmelt and rapid stream rises. Officials do not expect any widespread flooding at this time because colder air aloft will lower snow levels back down to the foothills by Tuesday and Wednesday. Another atmospheric river or Pineapple Express is upon us.

Temperatures will be in the 50s and then cooling into the 40s in a couple of days as the wet storm passes to the east and we get more of a northwesterly flow of air. We are still waiting for a high temperature of 60 degrees or better this month. Can you believe that? We haven’t had a high in the 60s since March 22.

Vancouver’s average mean temperature so far this month is running 4 degrees below normal. And our rainfall is twice the average for the month. With a couple of inches of rain heading our way, we’ll be recording a wet, wet April.

If one can believe some of our extended forecast models, they are showing warmer and drier weather arriving Friday into the weekend, with partly sunny skies and highs in the 60s and low 70s. But how many times lately have we seen that on the seven-day outlook? I’ll wait a few days until we get closer and see if that materializes or evaporates away.

Six years ago today, a windstorm caused widespread power outages, fallen trees and one death across the river, which was unusual for April. It was more like a wintertime storm, with winds between 40 and 60 mph in most parts of Clark County. Officially, the wind gauge at Pearson reached only 44 mph.

We’ll chat on Tuesday after this Pineapple Express is gone.

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