The windstorm Friday that caused power outages, downed trees and one death across the river was quite unusual for April. It was more like a winter storm. Winds gusted between 40 and 60 mph in most parts of Clark County. Officially, the wind gauge at Pearson reached only 44 mph.
It was also windy along the coast. Wind reports varied from 60 to 75 in the coastal cities to 80 to 95 in the coastal mountain tops.
Did you get caught in hail Saturday? I had many reports of the ground turning white with pea-size hail and saw one video on Facebook from Woodland that was a doozy. That was the cold air aloft that followed Friday’s windstorm. Snow fell in the Cascade mountains.
Another quick moving storm is poised off the coast today. We will have high clouds in the morning but rain showers late in the day or evening. The unsettled weather pattern continues all week.
It will be cool this week with highs generally staying under 60 degrees unless we get a good burst of sunshine. The air aloft will remain cool with snow at the mountain passes off and on.
For the first full week of April, Vancouver is just about on the money as far as rain and temperatures go; average for this time of the year. Those few 60 -egree days helped keep the average mean temperature normal, and the rainfall through 4 p.m. Saturday was just under 1 inch.
Looking ahead toward Easter, I see no reason for things to change, so I would bet on showery and cool weather for egg hunts Saturday. That is a ways out, and maybe we will get lucky. We should be enjoying highs at 60 degrees or better for this time period in April. We will be lucky to achieve that this week the way things look now. Cheers!
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com.