Temperatures will continue to fall (no pun intended) as we say goodbye to summer later this week. A cold low pressure center will remain over the Pacific Northwest, sending another cold front through the region Wednesday, kicking up some strong winds and bringing some mainly mountain showers of rain, with some high elevation snow (above major pass level) late Wednesday into Thursday. High temperatures will bottom out in the upper 50s Thursday, and conditions should slowly clear and warm up as we head into the weekend.

A reader wondered if two tropical storms could join and “combine forces.” That’s a good question. That can happen to any type of tropical cyclone. They often start to rotate around each other in something that is called the Fujiwhara effect. Named after Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwhara, he noticed the effect whenever systems of at least tropical storm strength get within about 900 miles of each other. Look at it as something akin to two bodies orbiting each other in space. It can lead to the storms merging and becoming one of catastrophic strength, but more often the larger of the two will tend to become the focal point, with the smaller orbiting around it until it gets drained of its energy.