One c ould feel the cold air filtering in after dark Monday and easterly winds were expected to be gusty today, adding to the chill. Wind chills will be in the 20s all day where the wind is blowing. Pleasant spots on the westside out of the wind will be more tolerable but have the coldest overnight lows. Humidity will be extremely low with static electricity inside your dwelling. Lows today through Thursday will be in the 20s in the windy areas and in the teens in the colder outlying locations, which is remarkable without a blanket of snow on the ground. Speaking of snow, those that live in the higher elevations had 1 to 3 inches of snow Monday, such as those above Washougal and locations at a thousand feet or so. There were even some snowflakes mixed in with the rain showers here in the lowland areas. The scattered showers were hit and miss Monday and on the light side with generally a tenth of an inch or so with more in the foothills where snow fell. We’ll have sunny skies today and Wednesday with possible higher clouds Thursday. By the weekend, we warm back up into the 50-degree range so the cold snap will be short-lived. The coldest low so far this season was 22 degrees here in Vancouver on Jan. 1 and Jan. 28. Four years ago at this time in 2018, we were cold with a few inches of snow scattered around the county at low elevations beginning on the 20th. Vancouver dipped to a new record on Feb. 21, 2018, with 20 degrees. OK, watch the overnight lows the next three days and see if we log in some record low temperatures. The record low in Vancouver for today is 24 degrees in 1920; Wednesday, 22 degrees in 2018; and Thursday, 22 degrees in 1962. Chances are good if not too windy at Pearson Field, where the official weather station is located.

As I write this late Monday afternoon, in Spokane temperatures were falling into the teens and Bellingham to our north was hovering at freezing with northeast winds gusting to 51 mph out of the Fraser River Canyon, making the wind chills in the low teens. Bundle up, keep the sunglasses handy.

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