Let’s review rainfall for December from our friends and neighbors around the area before we pass by yet another month. Bob Starr, Cougar, 26.12 inches; Jim Knoll, Five Corners, 11.31 inches; Robin Ruzek, Lake Shore, 8.23 inches; Chuck Houghten, Hockinson Heights, 13.10 inches; Tyler Mode, Battle Ground, 11.52 inches; Bob Mode, Minnehaha, 7.04 inches; Irv St. Germain, Prune Hill, 9.46 inches; Dick Lenahan, Meadow Glade, 11.06 inches; Dave Campell, 1 mile west of Heisson, 10.83 inches; Ellen Smart, Ridgefield, 10.90 inches; Barry Fitzthum, Amboy, 12.81 inches; Bill Sobolewski, Mount Livingston, 9.08 inches; and Judy Weber, near View, 13.07 inches. Our friend Roland Derksen in Vancouver, B.C., reported 11.78 inches. The official rainfall for Vancouver USA was 8.40 inches, 2.33 inches above average.
Yes, December was a wet month, but January will claim bragging rights on the rainfall. As of 4 p.m. Monday, Vancouver had 9.08 inches in the bucket so far this month. That is 4.88 inches above average. The frogs are singing their hearts out with joy.
What about these high temperatures? A good share of the county has seen highs in the low to mid-60s while along the Columbia highs have remained in the 50s. Keep blaming it on those easterly winds. Ever since that Arctic outbreak earlier in the month, cold air is still trapped in the Columbia Basin, and with pressure patterns keeping us in an offshore flow for the most part at low levels, that cold air drains downward to our area.
I saw Pearson Field Airport briefly reach 57 degrees around 12:30 Monday afternoon; not far away it was in the 60s. That was the warmest official high temperature for Vancouver this month. The Washington Coast had temperatures in the low to mid-60s Monday. The Columbia Basin chilled in the 30s and low 40s while it was 70 degrees in Bend, Ore., on Monday.
