Don’t put away the sunscreen. Keep those hats and sunglasses handy. And start filling your travel canisters with water cuz the next few days are going to be HOT! It always feels hotter in the dust and Glenwood at the Fair!
Expect it to be at or near 30 everyday through the weekend and until at least Wednesday next week.
(the last two days of the forecast generally get the weather pattern right but always undercut the temperature in summer)
Is this normal? Ya. I’d say it doesn’t happen every year but it’s not unusual that we get a stretch of hot weather in early or even late September after a cool down in late August.
And speaking of August here is the wrap up for the month compared to my past years and the Normals from EC. This is from my stations auto-generated NOAA reports.
Temperature Averages
Year : Max : Min : Mean
2007 : 24.0C : 12.3C : 17.2C
2008 : 25.9C : 12.3C : 18.1C
2009 : 24.1C : 13.0C : 17.9C
2010 : 25.3C : 12.0C : 18.2C
2011 : 24.2C : 12.6C : 17.8C
2012 : 25.4C : 13.0C : 18.8C
Normals : 25.2C : 10.5C : 17.9C
As you can see August 2012 really recovered well from the bummer summer last year. In fact, thanks to the higher lows we actually had the highest average/mean temperature since I started in 2007. You will notice also that the Normals show much lower daily lows as well as overall averages. This rise in minimum nighttime temperatures is our most likely manifestation of global warming in our region. The warming is exaggerated here because of the short time period on my station and the difference in its location (down in the River Estuary) and mine. But other stations around the Pacific Northwest have borne out that trend.
Precipitation:
Year : Amount
2007 : 20.8mm
2008 : 65.5mm
2009 : 15.5mm
2010 : 20.3mm
2011 : 9.7mm
2012 : 6.1mm
Normals : 41.8mm
For us, traditionally July is the driest month, not August. But while we did get the cool weather in late August that usually gives us rain, instead we only got a few small showers. As a result the wildfire rating remains high or extreme on the Central, Eastern and South Island and there have been a couple of notable fires, one near Langford and another in Strathcona park at Wolf River. Neither pose a threat. Seattle is also poised to record its longest stretch ever without rain. It will be close though.
OK! That’s all I got!
I’m going to be at the fall fair at the Alberni Valley Transition Town society booth hopefully playing with solar panels and a wind turbine and just generally chatting. Come say hi! We will be in the building where the petting zoo usually is (they moved it over by the pigs and sheep this year.)
Oh Ya… The record ice melt continues:
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