Weather Eye: Clear skies, warming air mass will arrive this week

The modified arctic front was rushing down the Columbia River Gorge as I wrote this column late Saturday afternoon.

At 5 p.m. in Vancouver, light rain was falling, with an air temperature of 42 degrees. Winds were gusting out of the east upward of 30 mph. Dewpoints were rapidly dropping toward the freezing point.

The big unknown as I wrote is whether there was any moisture still falling when the cold air arrived Saturday evening, presenting any snowflakes. You know how that went.

Skies will clear today, as promised. Highs will hover in the 30s, as forecast. The good news in this event is that it won’t get as cold as models were indicating a few days ago. Overnight lows will drop into the 20s tonight and probably Monday night as well. More sunny weather is on tap for Monday to kick the week off.

January will end on a chilly and dry note, and as February arrives Wednesday, we will see a warming air mass taking us back to seasonal highs in the 40s. Rain showers are possible later in the week.

If we were to get any moisture early this week, it could be a mixed bag, but odds are low at this point with the warming air mass. At least we are free of the gray skies and inversions for a short while.

Looking at the monthly weather log for Vancouver on Saturday, I see we will end the month about 2 inches below average with the rainfall. Thanks to the chilly weather the last three days of January, our average temperature will fall from 3.5 degrees above average down to about 2 degrees above average. It will be labeled a mild and dry month in the climate books. Unusual for January, our coldest month.

One year ago today, we had a low of 23 degrees, so it will be interesting what we end up with by midnight tonight.

Enjoy the sunshine and change in the weather before we slip back into increasing chances of rain by next weekend. See you Tuesday.

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