April Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[wx_statman]

No... I remember most of the extreme cold and snowy periods.     I just don't think I can remember details all the way back to 1975.  

 

January of 1982 was insane... over 40 inches of snow in 3 days followed by bitter cold.   December 1983 was also very memorable.   As was the Halloween blizzard of 1991 and cold and snow that followed in November.  

 

I checked MSP numbers out of curiosity. Yesterday's 12 degrees was the first in April since 1997. That year saw a really epic spring cold wave in the northern Rockies/Plains. 

[TT-SEA]

Pretty amazing that its 49 and sunny here and the ground is still covered.    

 

The dense nature of the snow cover has to be the reason... most of it is actually packed graupel.     North Bend had the same thing but its all gone down there now... grass is green and the trees and leafing out.   Meaning it looks like early April down there. 

[MossMan]

45 degree dribbles currently.

[TT-SEA]

12Z ECMWF surface map showed a decent south to southeast wind all night up here in the Seattle area.    The dewpoint has been rising here in the last couple hours as well.   

 

Hopefully the breeze keeps the temp up and the slow melt going through the night here.  

[Jesse]

Hailed here just a bit ago.

 

51/35 today.

[FroYoBro]

12Z ECMWF surface map showed a decent south to southeast wind all night up here in the Seattle area.    The dewpoint has been rising here in the last couple hours as well.   

 

Hopefully the breeze keeps the temp up and the slow melt going through the night here.  

 

I'll be praying for more melting. 

[TT-SEA]

I'll be praying for more melting. 

 

Thanks... appears to be working.   Melting more now with a good SW breeze than it did all day in the sun.   

[TT-SEA]

In addition to having the two biggest snowfalls here on Christmas and Easter (odds must be astronomical)... there was also a very early snowfall in early November and a very late snowfall in early April.     And January was the only month with no measureable snow and no snow on the ground at all from November - April.    <_>

 

Very quirky cold season.   

[Deweydog]

In addition to having the two biggest snowfalls here on Christmas and Easter (odds must be astronomical)... there was also a very early snowfall in early November and a very late snowfall in early April. And January was the only month with no measureable snow and no snow on the ground at all from November - April. <_>

 

Very quirky cold season.

The megablast™ just happened to be an extremely dry.

[wx_statman]

Wow - Lincoln, Illinois broke their monthly record low by 15 degrees this morning. Hit -1, while the previous record for the month was 14 on 4/5/1920. The previous daily record for today was 20. Fresh snowcover plus a record cold airmass working its magic.

 

Also, just missed the listed state record low for Illinois for April - a reading of -2 in 1982 at Mount Carroll. 

[wx_statman]

What's interesting also is that we've been consistently seeing record cold airmasses during April in recent years east of the Rockies. 

 

I'm thinking of the 20 degrees in Amarillo, TX on 4/24/2013, the -5 in Marquette, MI on 4/16/2014, the -4 in Caribou, ME on 4/6/2015, the 2 in Duluth, MN on 4/9/2016 (downwind of our 85 degree ridge), and now the -1 in Lincoln, IL. All of these are late-season benchmark records for each location. 

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Wow - Lincoln, Illinois broke their monthly record low by 15 degrees this morning. Hit -1, while the previous record for the month was 14 on 4/5/1920. The previous daily record for today was 20. Fresh snowcover plus a record cold airmass working its magic.

 

Also, just missed the listed state record low for Illinois for April - a reading of -2 in 1982 at Mount Carroll.

That's incredible.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

What's interesting also is that we've been consistently seeing record cold airmasses during April in recent years east of the Rockies.

 

I'm thinking of the 20 degrees in Amarillo, TX on 4/24/2013, the -5 in Marquette, MI on 4/16/2014, the -4 in Caribou, ME on 4/6/2015, the 2 in Duluth, MN on 4/9/2016 (downwind of our 85 degree ridge), and now the -1 in Lincoln, IL. All of these are late-season benchmark records for each location.

Maybe another warmer than usual summer is in store for the PNW.

[TT-SEA]

What's interesting also is that we've been consistently seeing record cold airmasses during April in recent years east of the Rockies. 

 

I'm thinking of the 20 degrees in Amarillo, TX on 4/24/2013, the -5 in Marquette, MI on 4/16/2014, the -4 in Caribou, ME on 4/6/2015, the 2 in Duluth, MN on 4/9/2016 (downwind of our 85 degree ridge), and now the -1 in Lincoln, IL. All of these are late-season benchmark records for each location. 

 

 

What just seems so strange to me is having the cold and snow cover the entire northern part of the country from coast to coast in April.    Normally when we are cold in the spring... there is warm air pumping up into the Midwest and NE.   And their cold often comes as a by-product of our warmth.

 

Facebook reminded me over the weekend of our lovely warm Easter on 3/31/2013.   We had dinner outside on my parent's deck in Bellingham and we were not even wearing sweatshirts.

[wx_statman]

Maybe another warmer than usual summer is in store for the PNW.

 

Hah! I didn't even think about that. 

[TT-SEA]

The 10-day snowfall map from the 12Z ECMWF looks like something out of December or January.   

 

[wx_statman]

What just seems so strange to me is having the cold and snow cover the entire northern part of the country from coast to coast in April.    Normally when we are cold in the spring... there is warm air pumping up into the Midwest and NE.   And their cold often comes as a by-product of our warmth.

 

Facebook reminded me over the weekend of our lovely warm Easter on 3/31/2013.   We had dinner outside on my parent's deck in Bellingham and we were not even wearing sweatshirts.

 

I remember that stretch. 77 at PDX that day. 

 

It's definitely unusual seeing coast to coast cold weather like this in April. Very winterlike pattern in temperatures and geographic extent.

[Jesse]

The 10-day snowfall map from the 12Z ECMWF looks like something out of December or January.

 

That’s pretty crazy.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Tim talking about another mild night, down to 29 here. Hit 49 today, all the snow was gone by the time I got home. 

 

49/29 and 42/30 are not bad ways to start April.

[Jesse]

00z GFS and ensembles show an unusually active and variable first two weeks of April.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

March ended up well below normal in John Day, OR

 

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Local_News/20180402/march-colder-than-normal

 

Looks like February was well below normal too...Some impressive temps at the end of the month!

 

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Local_News/20180301/february-colder-than-normal

[Jesse]

[ShawniganLake]

Pretty amazing that its 49 and sunny here and the ground is still covered.

 

The dense nature of the snow cover has to be the reason... most of it is actually packed graupel. North Bend had the same thing but its all gone down there now... grass is green and the trees and leafing out. Meaning it looks like early April down there.

The alders and maples started noticeably leafing out over the last few days here. By the end of the week the landscape will look much more green here.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

27 right now. Chilly!

[TT-SEA]

Dog was barking loudly... presumably at deer walking through the yard. Perfect.

 

It is a mild night compared to down south. Its also cloudy in the Seattle area... with a south wind.

 

42 at SEA... 41 in North Bend... 39 here at 4:30 a.m.

 

The snow that is left has been continuing to slowly melt through the night. A south wind and clouds are very helpful in that regard. Now to try and go back to sleep.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Dog was barking loudly... presumably at deer walking through the yard. Perfect.

 

It is a mild night compared to down south. Its also cloudy in the Seattle area... with a south wind.

 

42 at SEA... 41 in North Bend... 39 here at 4:30 a.m.

 

The snow that is left has been continuing to slowly melt through the night. A south wind and clouds are very helpful in that regard. Now to try and go back to sleep.

26 here now. I wonder what your average lows are compared to mine? Our average low only bottoms out around 29, stays 32 or lower through about March 20, average low here for the month of April is around 34/35 I believe.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

To be fair. I think this at least ties the coldest low I’ve had in April. Though I had a 25 in May 2013 or 14.

[wx_statman]

34 at PDX and -7 in Cut Bank, MT this morning. 

 

For Cut Bank, this is the coldest April reading since 1954. 

[Tyler Mode]

28.7 for a low in Battle Ground.

 

Good enough for a daily record low. The average last freeze at my station is April 20th (drug out later by those late freezes in 2011-2013!) I had low of 29.9 on May 10th, 2012, my latest ever.

 

A few high cloud are moving in now starting what looks like days and days of rain.  Can't wait to get to New Zealand and Bora Bora!

[wx_statman]

March ended up well below normal in John Day, OR

 

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Local_News/20180402/march-colder-than-normal

 

Looks like February was well below normal too...Some impressive temps at the end of the month!

 

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Local_News/20180301/february-colder-than-normal

 

Nice. Looks like that 6 degree low on 2/28 was the latest in the winter since 2/28/1962.

[TT-SEA]

28.7 for a low in Battle Ground.

 

Good enough for a daily record low. The average last freeze at my station is April 20th (drug out later by those late freezes in 2011-2013!) I had low of 29.9 on May 10th, 2012, my latest ever.

 

A few high cloud are moving in now starting what looks like days and days of rain.  Can't wait to get to New Zealand and Bora Bora!

 

Nice!   

 

And I agree... good time to be leaving town.    

[TT-SEA]

26 here now. I wonder what your average lows are compared to mine? Our average low only bottoms out around 29, stays 32 or lower through about March 20, average low here for the month of April is around 34/35 I believe.

You always seem surprised (and sort of annoyed) when its cloudy and warmer up here are night. But it happens all the time... we are usually closer to the storm track. We also have gaps our mountains which plays a key role in the winter. You probably get more clear nights down there in the spring so its built into your averages.

 

I think the average low here is around 38 or 39 for April. The average low in the Snoqualmie Valley never goes below 32... it bottoms out at 32.7 in January.

 

You just assume we are farther north so it must always be colder. Not true... although that is usually the case in the summer.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

28.7 for a low in Battle Ground.

 

Good enough for a daily record low. The average last freeze at my station is April 20th (drug out later by those late freezes in 2011-2013!) I had low of 29.9 on May 10th, 2012, my latest ever.

 

A few high cloud are moving in now starting what looks like days and days of rain. Can't wait to get to New Zealand and Bora Bora!

Have fun!

[ShawniganLake]

You always seem surprised (and sort of annoyed) when its cloudy and warmer up here are night. But it happens all the time... we are usually closer to the storm track. We also have gaps our mountains which plays a key role in the winter. You probably get more clear nights down there in the spring so its built into your averages.

 

I think the average low here is around 38 or 39 for April. The average low in the Snoqualmie Valley never goes below 32... it bottoms out at 32.7 in January.

 

You just assume we are farther north so it must always be colder. Not true... although that is usually the case in the summer.

Average low is up to 36.3 here by April 3rd.

 

Also, the troughing and cold anomalies have clearly been focused further south this year so far. Just looked at the official number for Shawnigan Lake and we actually managed a small positive anomaly on April 1st.

[Jesse]

Down to 30 here with frost and light fog.

 

PDX will come close to an April freeze this morning but fall just short.

[Jesse]

You always seem surprised (and sort of annoyed) when its cloudy and warmer up here are night. But it happens all the time... we are usually closer to the storm track. We also have gaps our mountains which plays a key role in the winter. You probably get more clear nights down there in the spring so its built into your averages.

 

I think the average low here is around 38 or 39 for April. The average low in the Snoqualmie Valley never goes below 32... it bottoms out at 32.7 in January.

 

You just assume we are farther north so it must always be colder. Not true... although that is usually the case in the summer.

To be fair, I wouldn’t say he’s the one that seems consistently annoyed at the difference...

[Phil]

What's interesting also is that we've been consistently seeing record cold airmasses during April in recent years east of the Rockies.

 

I'm thinking of the 20 degrees in Amarillo, TX on 4/24/2013, the -5 in Marquette, MI on 4/16/2014, the -4 in Caribou, ME on 4/6/2015, the 2 in Duluth, MN on 4/9/2016 (downwind of our 85 degree ridge), and now the -1 in Lincoln, IL. All of these are late-season benchmark records for each location.

There’s been a marked change in the seasonal cycle of the WHEM ITCZ in recent years. The whole thing appears to be lagging by ~ 7 weeks, when compared to 30yrs ago. Autumn wavetrains have become more summerlike, and spring wavetrains have become more winterlike.

 

This is (at least) partially responsible why the high Arctic has been blowtorching during the cold season, yet flips into a colder regime during warm season (I suspect).

[TT-SEA]

To be fair, I wouldn’t say he’s the one that seems consistently annoyed at the difference...

 

It cloudy up here... and there is a south wind.      And there is even rain on the radar north of Everett. 

 

Should I lie and say its well below freezing here.  Its 40 at SEA and 38 here and the remaining snow is melting.   

 

It is what it is.  

[Phil]

The dead giveaway is revealed in the Arctic/Antarctic temperature anomaly cycles.

 

They’re locked in-phase w/ the ITCZ shift. The Arctic is seeing warm winters/cool summers, while the Antarctic is seeing cool winters/warm summers.

 

Antarctic = Purple, Arctic = Blue.

 

[Jesse]

It cloudy up here... and there is a south wind. And there is even rain on the radar north of Everett.

 

Should I lie and say its well below freezing here? Its 40 at SEA and 38 here and the remaining snow is melting.

 

It is what it is.

 

It is. My comment had nothing to do with the temperature up there.

 

I am impressed that your snowcover lasted the night! You should share one last pic with all of us.