By Gordon McCraw
Friday, July 14, 2023
Weather
The upper level high pressure ridge continues to build over the area as an upper level low pressure area meanders about several hundred miles west of Vancouver Island. The northeasterly flow will keep the stratus offshore tonight so we will see a mostly clear night with those northeasterly winds of 5-10, but dying, the low near 55.
The ridge peaks tomorrow which also gives us the warmest temperatures for the week. The valley, that does not enjoy the marine influence, will again be around 20 degrees warmer which promotes breezy conditions at the coast. This is a factor of the hot air in the valley rising causing lower pressure while the air at the coast is cooler and denser. To try to equalize this, the air here rushes eastward to replace the rising air in the valley, and the coast ends up with gusty westerly winds. So, tomorrow looks mostly sunny with the winds becoming northwesterly 5-10 gusting to 20, highs tomorrow near 74. The ridge starts to weaken tomorrow night, and shift eastward, as the low pressure area off Vancouver Island starts to drift east, dragging an associated trough of low pressure towards the southeast. This allows the marine clouds to return giving us mostly cloudy to cloudy skies tomorrow night with light winds, the lows near 56.
Conditions are slow to change Sunday, so we have mostly sunny skies with the winds becoming northwesterly 8-12, highs near 73, the clouds return Sunday night, lows near 56.
Good news for the valley, a cooldown starts Monday as the lows pressure area finally pushes into Vancouver Island and the associated trough of low pressure moves across our area. This does give us a slight chance of showers Monday morning, otherwise we see a partly sunny day with highs only near 67. We will have a partly cloudy skies Monday night, with the lows near 53.
Tuesday on, another weaker ridge moves in, so we see sunny days and partly cloudy nights with slightly warmer temperatures through Thursday, the highs around 70, the lows around 53.
The long range models are suggesting another low pressure area and an associated trough will bring cooler temperatures and a slight chance of showers to the area at the end of next week, similar to one expected on Monday.
