Well, I think today might be it.

Get out there and enjoy the sun because after today you’ll be seeing a lot more cloud, and by the end of week, some rain.

First, Ken Clark at Accuweather says the West Coast is in for a cool down. Now he’s in California, so they’ll be coming down for way up high, but even Seattle has been 4F above normal over the past week and we’ve been way up there too. We’re looking at getting back to normal temperatures (10-15C highs) this week.

Bret Anderson at Accuweather gives us a little more detail on the next month worth of weather… basically, cool, and wet… in other words. Normal. :)

We’ve had a great run this summer.

Maybe our next contest should be…. first frost?

I’m watching the day break as I type this. It’s going to be beautiful! Not a whisp of fog to be found. You’ll need some sunscreen if you’re outdoors today and no doubt you’ll want to have the windows open and shades drawn to keep the house cool!

Looks like we’re in for a beautiful rest of the week and weekend.

It’s that time of year again.. I’ve switched the webcam to its wintertime view. If you’re wondering why, it’s because in it’s south (city facing) orientation, during the winter the sun enters the picture and promptly burns a track into the CCD sensor of the camera. Trust me, it’s not fun. :) One day when I have more cash I’ll be buying a camera that has some special software that can effectively block the suns disk (by turning off parts of the sensor) and save the CCD sensor.

And finally… we had a wonderful event at the Harbour Quay yesterday! There were 30-35 of us gathered to send a wake-up call to our politicians on Climate Change. We phoned James Lunney, Scott Fraser and Prime Minister Harpers Office and got through to the first two but the PMOs voicemail was full (a good sign I think).

You can see a few of our pictures (search for Port Alberni) in the global photostream on flikr here.

Or you can check out all our pictures on FLICKR

But here’s one:

Well, that big high pressure ridge forecast last week has set up camp over the Pacific NorthWest and California today.

The level of heat we get will depend on when the fog clears on these cool damp mornings. They’re calling for 29 and 28 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For perspective: 29 would be 7 degrees above normal for September. The maximum for September was set in 1988 on Sept 2, at 37C. The normal temperature is around 18.

On another note. If you’re looking to have some fun on a Monday evening. Come down to the Harbour Quay at 5:30PM tomorrow (Monday). There will be a Global Wake-Up Call event being held there… bring your cellphone and some locally grown produce to symbolize what many are doing to reduce their Carbon Footprint, we’ll shake them for the cameras and we’ll phone up our MLA Scott Fraser, MP James Lunney(who apparently believes Climate Change is a big conspiracy), and Prime Minister Harper (Who I’m sure shares the beliefs of his MP) so that we can all deliver a big message to get serious on Climate Change.

You can see more information and all the events going on around the world here.

And by the way, for the 3rd month in a row, ocean temperatures set a new record high since 1880. The vast majority of records have all been set since 1990. Lots of details about abnormal temperatures around the world this summer here on Dr. Jeff Masters Blog.

So just because the past few weeks has been boring (but pleasant!) weather wise, that doesn’t mean there isn’t interesting stuff happening out there that might come knock on our door in some way.

First lets check out Super Typhoon Choi-Wan. I saw a blog post on him from Jim Andrews at Accuweather, he does all sorts of International weather. Choi-Wan is blowing at 135mph, over 250kph! That’s almost Category 5! Even though it’s devastating for where ever it hits (the Northern Marianas right now), it really is a thing of beauty:

Pretty awesome.

So, it’s not just a pretty picture either… if you click through the Satellite and Charts page on the left and go into the North Pacific Forecast you’ll see Choi-Wan in the 48hr and 96hr forecasts as it passes East of Japan and curves back our way. It will be worth watching it to see where it ends up. Who knows, it might get into Central Alaska, but it won’t get anywhere near us…. why? Well, thats the 2nd part of my blog post!

Check out California forecaster Ken Clark and his line on next weeks forecast, which looks mighty hot for Californa… looks like Hawaii Mars will be busy down there. But we’re going to get a little of that heat too. Environment Canada is currently saying 22C for Monday, but don’t be surprised if that goes up because we have a great big high pressure ridge that’s going to park itself over top our neck of the woods and keep any rain, or Super Typhoons (the X you can see up in Alaska?), at bay.

This is Mondays forecast model… don’t put away the fans just yet!

A beautiful weekend to be at the fair!

We were there Thursday and Friday night. There is an amazing display in the big building with the farm and quilting and stuff. They have a huge map there that shows the alberni valley and where all of the farms are in the Valley. You should really check it out. It’s great. There is also a nice old picture of the 10th and Redford area pre-1920. It looks like the picture was taken not far from the Alberniweather station near 6th and Redford!

Enjoy the heat! Hard to say what fall is going to look like, but this is certainly a great way to finish up the last few days of summer!