A moist April, but drought predicted

I had hoped for warmer weather for Colorama and Mother’s Day weekend; we take what we get, as someone once said. If you recall, last year was very warm with temperatures in the high 80s, low 90s and clear sky.

Here are the numbers for April. Our high temperature here at the home weather station was 74.0°F on the last day of the month (all-time high 92.0°F in 1936), a low of 30.7°F (all-time low 20.0°F in 1936) and the mean was 50.3°F (all time mean 50.0°F). Turned out the month was rather wet with a recorded rainfall of 1.67 inches. That compares well with some of the wettest Aprils of the past. The mean for April is only 0.83 inches and an all-time high of 2.19 inches in 1993. The one-day maximum was 1.10 inches in 2011. We had some strong wind gusts here at the home weather station in April, one up to 29 mph.

As we head into summer we should be thinking about hazardous weather conditions — thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and high winds. We’ve seen what can happen the past few years with downed trees, roof damage and power outages. Generally, we are fortunate here in Washington. Our number of injuries and fatalities related to weather are comparatively low with some of the mid-western states that get pummeled by weather we see rarely. Data for the country for 2012 provide us with the realities: heat fatalities — 155; wind fatalities — 104; tornado fatalities — 70; and flood fatalities — 29. All weather fatalities for the year 2012 — 528. Some weather conditions are dangerous, please be safe.

Forecasting the weather is a science; a look into the near future, if you will, of what our atmosphere will be doing at any given time and location. The folks at the Climate Prediction Center, an office in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), develop possible weather conditions for regions of the United States.

Here’s what they have come up with for our region: Through the summer, persistent drought conditions will develop in Eastern Washington. Temperatures will be above normal and precipitation below normal.

We’ve seen this before, for sure. With these conditions, the likelihood or potential for wildland fire develops as well. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, houses an office known as Predictive Services. This office develops potential outlooks regarding wildfire. For our region they are showing “normal” for potential wildfire development. Though later in the summer, the areas to our south, Oregon, and to our north, British Columbia, have above-normal potential for wildfire.