Boom, Crackle, Whoosh!

These lyrics from Bob Segar's 'Night Moves' seem so appropriate right now.

"I woke last night to the sound of thunder 

How far off I sat and wondered 

Started humming a song from 1962 

Ain't it funny how the night moves 

When you just don't seem to have as much to lose 

Strange how the night moves 

With autumn closing in"

Local TV station KGW posted this on Facebook

I know those lyrics may be a metaphor for things unrelated to actual weather. That's OK with me, they hit the spot right now. This morning a cell of thunderstorms moved in and I actually did awake to the sound of thunder, and my frightened Labrador Retriever. Summer thunderstorms can be fun to watch and listen to. Boom, Crackle and then Whoosh comes the rain. I prefer to listen in the afternoon, but early in the morning, well OK had to get up anyway.

Summer is starting is final approach

We are on approach my friends. Summer is nearing it's end. We have had some light showery weather over the last 24 hours or so. That's not terribly unusual for the end of August. Right now it is a balmy 79 with partly cloudy skies and just a touch sticky. Still fabulous summer weather. The kids are getting ready for back to school and the weather is getting ready to cool off. Get out and soak it up because you warm weather lovers will be really annoyed in just a few more weeks.

A slight hiccup, only slight though

We have some smoke coming in from the East and that big fire out in the Gorge that is creating some haziness in the sky. That haziness is also masking some light clouds tan minor disturbances that have passed over as well the last 24 hours. Worry not my fair residents of America's Vancouver, this is only a temporary and slight change from the perfection of the last week. Temps are cooling off into the 70s for a day or two starting on Saturday then right back into those amazing summer 80s we can't get enough of.

Try not to freak out when you see the graphic on Monday showing rain, it says "slight chance". Slight means probably not :) I'll take mid 70s any day, but I know some of you want that extra touch of the warm sun so fear not it shall return. Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Perfect Weather? Yep :)

Grillin' up some drumsticks

Is there something as subjective as "Perfect Weather"? Well, maybe but this past weekend, particularly yesterday was as close to universally perfect as you can get. Nice afternoon that built on a noon base of 75 degrees up to a late afternoon high on 83. Gorgeous sunshine and light breeze. I fired up the BBQ, again and just relaxed last night as the sun dropped in the Northwest.

Nice summer evening around 7:30

Speaking of sun dropping, notice how quickly we return to "normal" daylight as we approach September. Sunset was 8:13 last night and nearly a full hour earlier than the Summer Solstice 7 weeks ago. In about a month we will reach parity with the world on the Autumnal Equinox.

Here in the Great Northwest we enjoy great summer weather but in the next few weeks we will begin to feel a little nippiness in the night air followed by a rapid drop in daytime high temperatures. I like to call it the Autumn Plunge. We will worry about that later, for now, soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Peek-a-boo sun and some warm showers.

The last several days have seen a mixed sky with occasional sunshine and some scattered warm summer showers. Despite the fact that our skies have been less sunny this week, the glorious 75 days of summer have not disappointed. A light summer shower that barely wets the ground won't dampen the spirits of the hardy North westerners, right? Of course not. The temps have been mild in the 70s so there is none of that unpleasant mugginess that we all hate. This has been a great summer and the best news is that it is likely to continue for another month! So like I always say, soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Are you soaking this up?

I always ask my readers to soak it up and I sure hope you are. The toasty August days and warm summer nights are fantastic aren't they? As our glorious 75 days of summer march on we will find those occasional showery days that remind us that we are, after all, in the Pacific Northwest. They are few and far between however until the end of September we can bask in the glory of the mighty sun. It's awesome so like I always say, soak it up my friends, soak it up :)

The "Dog Days" of summer continue.

Our fabulous summer weather continues with warm 80s and comfortable evenings. What a great time to head out to the Clark County Fair and enjoy the glorious sunshine! Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

July is in the books with nary a drop of rain

NWS Chart

It is not too often in these parts to have a calendar month pass without any rain, but lo and behold, July 2013 did just that. This was not a hot month, in fact I never broke 90 degrees at my station. The official Vancouver station did hit 90 once or twice. It managed to break 70 degrees every single day except the 28th where Mr. Mercury got tired of rising at 69.8 degrees. I had a couple of chilly nights that had the thermometer drop into the upper 40s which is not exactly rare, but well out of character for July. There were some passing thunderstorms that scattered some very light rain sporadically but my gauge remained bone dry as did several 'official' gauges in the area.

Temperatures for July at my station

The National Weather Service shows that 1984 was the last time we had a completely dry July.

Temperatures were gifted from God almighty himself with a nice daily average high a touch under 80 degrees and lows averaging just over 55. The coldest night was 47.8 the warmest day was 88.8. The coolest afternoon high was 69.8 and the warmest overnight was 64.2 degrees. Overall this was an amazing month of perfect summer weather.

A little rain on the freeway in Portland this morning.

Perfection can only last so long however and this month has started off with the first real precipitation since, June 26th. The local weather prognosticators are calling for mild 70s for today and tomorrow with scattered light showers and thunderstorms. This will be followed by more of what we had in July for the weekend and beyond.

So august will start off drippy and then the 75 days of our glorious summer shall resume with more fabulous 80s and a flaming performance by El Sol :)  Soak it up my friends. Soak it up!