Classic Winter Inversion

We have been in an inversion for the last week. Cold air has been trapped down in the valleys under a thick blanket of low clouds and fog. Up above where it is normally colder, it has been sunny and warm. It seems like 1000 feet has been the magic spot. I have been up in the foothills showing real estate and the weather up above 1000 feet has been gloriously sunny and almost warm!

Mild sunshine at 1290 feet near Ireland Road in Camas, WA

The other day it was a cool 31 degrees and overcast with occasional light sleet at my office in East Vancouver. I headed a few miles up into the foothills to show a home and the sun was shining proud with a temperature in the mid-40s.

These inversion events seem to wreak havoc on the local weather forecasts. The local weather forecasters always seem to assume it will washout in a day or so and yet my experience is that it tends to hang around a bit longer. The weather folks have been calling for upper 40s for the last several days and they keep pushing it out further and further. Just keep saying it, eventually it will come.

Well, it has finally come. Temps are starting to push up towards 40 degrees down here and it won't be long before that inversion mixes out. The mercury as I write this, sits at a balmy 38.5 degrees which is the warmest in two weeks. The last time my weather station recorded 40 degrees was at 7pm on December 13th! But in that same window of 15 days it has not dropped below 30 degrees either. Lows in low thirties and highs in the mid thirties for two straight weeks.

The official weather stations at the airport have been seeing temperatures a few degrees warmer than my location and again up above the fog blanket much warmer temps have prevailed.

It looks like December will go down as a chilly month at least at my house, that is.

If you want to get above the dreary winter doldrums, just take a little drive up into the foothills and soak it up my friends; soak it up.