Now that we have finally seen an end to the long dry spell, it looks like we will probably start another one as we head into the week. A low pressure center is moving through the Pacific Northwest, and as it passes our flow will shift back around to come out of the northwest, which should dry and stabilize our airmass, and allow afternoon breezes to gust as high as 30 mph. Temperatures will make it to the low 90s in the valleys, and stay there through most of the work week under plenty of sunshine.

With the latest thunderstorms come several reports like the following: “A huge wind hit our house in the North Valleys out of nowhere and lasted about 5 seconds. It blew our bedroom French doors open that are latched on one and secured with the push up bar that goes into the upper door frame. Could this have been a microburst?”

Maybe… but there are other possibilities. A microburst is a very narrow column of rapidly sinking cold air, dropping out of a thunderstorm, which hits the ground, splays out, and produces violent horizontal winds. Tomorrow, I’ll give some other possibilities.