As I write my column early Wednesday afternoon, I see raindrops on my windowpane and a few hundreds of an inch of moisture in my rain gauge here in the north county. A weak weather system was crossing the area as we discussed earlier in the week. Rainfall along the coast was moderate to heavy in some cities. I expected a tenth of an inch at best several days ago, but satellite pictures Wednesday indicated some heavy showers following the dissipating front. I’ll report in my next column how much rain we ended up with.
Another weak front passes by Friday, but no rain is expected. A nice weekend is in store at this point with Saturday the warmest day. Sunday, we see more clouds and even a stray sprinkle but still mild. Warmer and drier weather early next week with another shot of rain later in the week. Autumn is upon us.
OK let’s get in the August rainfall around the area from your friends and neighbors. Robin Ruzek, Lakeshore, .87 of an inch; Chuck Houghten, Hockinson Heights, 1.34 inches; Jim Knoll, Five Corners, 1.34 inches; Barry Fitzthum, Amboy, .85 of an inch; Rob Starr, Cougar, 1.90 inches; Tyler Mode, Battle Ground, 1.07 inches; Bob Mode, Minnehaha, 1.11 inches; Irv St. Germain, Prune Hill, 1.14 inches; Ellen Smart, Ridgefield, 1.00 inch; and Dick Lenahan, Meadow Glade, .85 of an inch. The official rainfall for Vancouver was .69 of an inch which was a little above average for a change. As you can see rainfall amounts varied due to a couple days with scattered thunderstorms. Irv St. Germain reported August was his fourth wettest in 23 years of record keeping. Jim Knoll reported his wettest August in 16 years.
Observer Chuck Houghten gave me his annual fall and winter outlook. “My outlook for the upcoming fall and early winter months is for cooler and wet conditions, and I expect a good snowy winter for our Cascade mountains. I think we will have our typically beautiful and comfortable fall weather, some warm, some cool and wet days, but then quicker than most years, colder and wetter conditions arriving to help get our soil moisture up and streams and rivers flowing strong once again.”
Any other winter predictions out there? Take good care everyone.
