Those east winds arrived right on schedule, maybe a few hours sooner, on Friday, enough to give Vancouver a record high of 90 degrees. On Saturday, those winds were blowing even stronger, pushing our afternoon temperatures well into the 90s — enough to surpass the old record high of 91 degrees, set way back in 1939.
It is status quo today, with east winds and temperatures close to the record high of 94 degrees, also recorded in 1939. On Monday, an unusual event takes place as a low-pressure system over the Great Basin moves westward and encompasses the Northwest. This will shut the east winds off and induce unstable air that could cause thunderstorms on Monday.
Not often does such a large area of low pressure move several states back to the west. The normal flow of weather comes from the west and off to the east on a large scale. But then again, I am beginning to think this spring has been anything but normal. In the weather business, I always say normal is only a collection of extremes. It all averages out.
If we get enough filtered sunshine on Monday, we may end up at 90 degrees, which would be a few degrees below the record high of 94 degrees, set in 2006. The remainder of the work week will still be quite warm, with highs in the 80s and touching 90 degrees on a couple days. It’s also unusual for May to have such a long stretch of hot and dry weather.
