Cooler

Our atypical August cool-off has begun.  How long will it last?  Your role: refill that Mug; mine: get on with the answer.

An onshore flow, which cools down much of the PNW, has arrived.  A repeating morning marine cloud deck will burn off by the afternoon, with plenty of afternoon sunshine inland away from the coast.  A weak Low will push close to the WA close, north of Astoria, by the coming weekend, so expect lingering clouds and a chance for a few showers late Saturday into early Sunday Aug 18, mainly north of Chehalis up into Vancouver Island.

Next week will also start out on the cool side for August, but by Thursday, we see a return to summer heat.  Temps should pop back up into the upper 80s to 90s across the entire PNW (bit warmer in the eastern basins, per normal) from Thu through the weekend of Aug 24,25.  Onshore flow is possible again by Mon Aug 26.  

By the way, the cumulative amount of precipitation mentioned above is not likely to be much more than a ten of an inch (excluding higher elevations).  Water management teams will not change course.

Along with the ’songs of summer’ - presented nightly by our regional cricket species, wine grapes are now undergoing veraison - the process when chlorophyll in grape skins is replaced by anthocyanins (red grapes) or carotenoids (white grapes).  Wine grapes transition from growing to ripening during veraison - the pivotal point in the lifecycle of wine grapes.  Ah, August in the PNW.