[Requiem]

Yeah, another question thread. I get it. This one's less of a downer, so there's that. 

 

Which weather event stood out as the most impressive that you have personally experienced here in the West?

 

For me it's a tie between the 1/10/17 snowstorm (15-20 inches in a 10 hour period, we get it...), and the December 2008 snow event series. 

[Phil]

Windstorm off Hippa Island in July of 2017. Was on a relatively small boat on the open water in 50-60kt gusts. Fun stuff, much better than 95 degree heat with face melting humidity.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Dec 08, Feb 14, & Feb 19.

[Mr Marine Layer]

One day driving through Arizona during monsoon season. All of a sudden it started to pour rain. After a while we could see the road going from completely wet to completely dry ahead of us. The rain immediately stopped once we reached the dry area.

[jakeinthevalley]

It was December (I think it was 1997). I woke up and it was 39 degrees and a light drizzle was falling. By the time the sun went down, it was up to 43 degrees and still a light drizzle falling. (It never let up all day)

This was the first time I had ever experienced this in the winter in the Willamette Valley. Truly memorable!

[MossMan]

11/26/06 into 11/27/06. It was epic!

[BLI snowman]

January 6-8, 2004 was pretty dope.

[wx_statman]

When PDX didn't fall below 47 in all of September and October, 2014. 

[Frontal Snowsquall]

1) January 10, 2017 snowstorm and the one week deep freeze after it. It felt like I was living in Northern Alaska for a week. Almost got frostbite one of the days heading into work to Hillsboro.

2) December 2008 Heavy Snowstorm(s). Biggest snow totals I have ever experienced in my life. Extra bonus for it occurring during the holiday season.

3) February 1996 Pineapple Express. Biggest atmospheric river I have ever witnessed. The Willamette blew up in size.

4) February 6-8, 2014 snow/ice storms. Took three consecutive days of snowstorms to erode all the cold air. Last one featured some ice.

5) Early January 2004 snow then massive ice storm. The icy cold gorge east winds would not give up leaving all the Mets on TV stunnned. Airport got shutdown.

[umadbro]

December 30th (or 29th) 1996. Lynnwood Washington. Appears to be missing data for the 29th, so I'm not 100% certain.

Pineapple express overran cold air. You get the idea...

[GHweatherChris]

Winter 2008-09

[Deweydog]

Easy...

February 2, 1989.

[MossMan]

December 30th (or 29th) 1996. Lynnwood Washington. Appears to be missing data for the 29th, so I'm not 100% certain.

Pineapple express overran cold air. You get the idea...

The 28th into the 29th. I remember vividly during the day on the 28th the temp rose to 37 degrees and I was wondering if the forecast was going to bust...It did not. The entire state of Washington was under a winter storm warning, around 4pm the temp started falling rapidly from 37 to 16 degrees by 9pm when the snow started. By midnight we were under a blizzard warning and by daybreak we had nearly two feet of new snow and no power. The snow turned to rain by about 9am. I had to dig a tunnel out to the yard so the dogs could go out. Then we had to get to the lake house since at that time it still had a flat roof and we needed to get the snow-load off immediately. My dads Chevy Blazer was bottoming out in the snow but we made it and got the snow off, the roof had begun to leak in a few places. That next summer we had a regular pitched roof on. Definitely in my top 5 events!

[ShawniganLake]

The 28th into the 29th. I remember vividly during the day on the 28th the temp rose to 37 degrees and I was wondering if the forecast was going to bust...It did not. The entire state of Washington was under a winter storm warning, around 4pm the temp started falling rapidly from 37 to 16 degrees by 9pm when the snow started. By midnight we were under a blizzard warning and by daybreak we had nearly two feet of new snow and no power. The snow turned to rain by about 9am. I had to dig a tunnel out to the yard so the dogs could go out. Then we had to get to the lake house since at that time it still had a flat roof and we needed to get the snow-load off immediately. My dads Chevy Blazer was bottoming out in the snow but we made it and got the snow off, the roof had begun to leak in a few places. That next summer we had a regular pitched roof on. Definitely in my top 5 events!

That was a very impressive arctic front cutting thru the region on the afternoon of the 28th. It was only 24F here and Abbotsford was at 10F that afternoon.

[Front Ranger]

Dec 1990 Arctic blast. My first real vivid weather memory, and the coldest, most wintry stretch I ever experienced in the PNW.

[MossMan]

Dec 1990 Arctic blast. My first real vivid weather memory, and the coldest, most wintry stretch I ever experienced in the PNW.

The heavy snow falling on Christmas morning was the topper to that amazing event! I woke up before anyone else, built a fire in the wood stove and just sat and watched the snow fall. Very peaceful after a not so good year for a 14yr old with my parents separating, the house and property that I absolutely loved being put up for sale...That hour of quiet staring out the window at the snowfall was to this day still very vivid and memorable.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

1) January 17-18, 2012. 21" of snow on the 17th and 5.38" of rain on the 18th. 

2) March 21-22, 2012. 20" of snow.

3) December 1990. Vague memories of snow and cold. 

4) February 2019. 52.2" of snow

5) February 19, 1993. 12" of snow on the valley floor.

[ShawniganLake]

December 2008. 53.8” of snow at Shawnigan Lake. Followed by that quick hitting 9.5” snowfall on January 4th.

Dec1996. Close to 50” of snow with the post Christmas blizzard dumping 30” in 2 days with temps in the high teens and low 20s

Dec 1990. Probably the 2 most impressive arctic fronts I’ve seen in my life. The first dropped temps into the teens with a quick 8” of snow. The second dropped temps from the mid 40s into the mid teens with about 6” of snow. The pipes froze at my parents house with that. Only time that has happened since they moved there in 82

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Most memorable in the West?

 

The cold front that came through one Thanksgiving weekend when I was a teen in the northern New Mexico mountains. That weekend began with highs in the 70's and ended with the thermometer sitting at -24 (and 9" of new snow on the ground).

 

The cold front that came through one May after a bust of a winter in New Mexico. Dumped 8-12" of gloppy wet snow on leafed-out trees, blackouts everywhere, snow falling so fast the plows couldn't keep up with it, school got let out early.

 

The Dec 1990 snowstorm in Seattle. Dumped 14" in an afternoon at my house.

 

The Dec 1996 snowstorms, which dumped about 2 feet in the same location.

 

Dec 2008 in Portland. 1 to 2 feet, depending on where in the city one was.

 

Last February on Bainbridge Island. 4 significant snowfalls in a week, with 9" on my birthday.

[snow_wizard]

December 2008. 53.8” of snow at Shawnigan Lake. Followed by that quick hitting 9.5” snowfall on January 4th.

Dec1996. Close to 50” of snow with the post Christmas blizzard dumping 30” in 2 days with temps in the high teens and low 20s

Dec 1990. Probably the 2 most impressive arctic fronts I’ve seen in my life. The first dropped temps into the teens with a quick 8” of snow. The second dropped temps from the mid 40s into the mid teens with about 6” of snow. The pipes froze at my parents house with that. Only time that has happened since they moved there in 82

 

Dec 1990 was pretty epic alright.  It actually dropped to zero at my place with that.  The initial snowstorm forced me to park my car and walk home 7 miles.  It literally took me an hour to go an eighth of a mile before I parked.

[ShawniganLake]

Dec 1990 was pretty epic alright. It actually dropped to zero at my place with that. The initial snowstorm forced me to park my car and walk home 7 miles. It literally took me an hour to go an eighth of a mile before I parked.

It dropped to 3F here when the skies cleared behind the second front. I think we hit 5F with the first.

[wx_statman]

It dropped to 3F here when the skies cleared behind the second front. I think we hit 5F with the first.

 

That second shot ended up colder than the first in NW Washington. For example, 3F in Blaine and 6F at BLI on the 29th were the lowest readings that month at those stations. Most other areas of the western lowlands were colder with the first airmass. 

[snow_wizard]

It dropped to 3F here when the skies cleared behind the second front. I think we hit 5F with the first.

 

I ended up with 0F on the first wave and 5F on the second.  Talk about a one two punch!  We had good snow cover for both.

[BLI snowman]

That second shot ended up colder than the first in NW Washington. For example, 3F in Blaine and 6F at BLI on the 29th were the lowest readings that month at those stations. Most other areas of the western lowlands were colder with the first airmass. 

 

The arctic front on the 28th with the second airmass was extremely pronounced. We really haven't approached that since.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The December 1990 event is unequivocally in the pantheon of great PNW arctic outbreaks, and the last one we've had that has been indisputably so. I would give almost anything to see a repeat. The level of CAA with both those blasts is something we have not seen since. The numbers are staggering, especially when one considers how far south the bitterly cold air made it. The snow wasn't as notable in Oregon, Salem only had an inch, Eugene had 3", but the cold was incredible. Highs of 16 at Eugene, 18 on back to back days at Salem, 12 at Silver Falls. Then the 2nd shot, which was definitely not as impressive down here, but still comparable to the 1998 event, Salem had a high of 24 on the 29th, 22 at PDX. 

[wx_statman]

The December 1990 event is unequivocally in the pantheon of great PNW arctic outbreaks, and the last one we've had that has been indisputably so. I would give almost anything to see a repeat. The level of CAA with both those blasts is something we have not seen since. The numbers are staggering, especially when one considers how far south the bitterly cold air made it. The snow wasn't as notable in Oregon, Salem only had an inch, Eugene had 3", but the cold was incredible. Highs of 16 at Eugene, 18 on back to back days at Salem, 12 at Silver Falls. Then the 2nd shot, which was definitely not as impressive down here, but still comparable to the 1998 event, Salem had a high of 24 on the 29th, 22 at PDX. 

 

The amount of boundary layer cold advection in both Feb 1989 and the first Dec 1990 blast hasn't been approached since (Dec 1998 made a run at it though). The daytime maximums at Cascade Snotel stations really stand out for both of those cold waves, far colder than anything since for some stations in the 2,000 - 4,000 foot range. Something like 0-5F maximums at mid-slope elevations. 

[wx_statman]

I dug up an old post I made about the second blast in Dec 1990 (28th/29th):

 

*******************************************

 

12-28-1990

 

Huge northerly blast. Trees and power lines down in the Seattle area from 60+ mph gusts. PDX advected into the low 20's on NW winds that reached 25 mph sustained:

 

https://www.wundergr...localwx_history

 

PDX has yet to match the 22 degree maximum on 12-29-1990, yet at the time it was probably considered an afterthought as maximums had been 19-20-21 on the 20th-22nd. 

 

This shot of Arctic air was actually colder than the earlier "main event" from the 19th-23rd in parts of the interior PNW. Kalispell, MT hit -35 on the 29th, tying the monthly record from 1968 and coming within 3 degrees of the all-time record (-38 on 1-30 & 1-31 in 1950). Yakima hit -16, just missing the monthly record of -17 from 12-17-1964. Also on the 29th/30th, numerous stations in NE Oregon recorded their lowest minimums of the month, beating out the earlier blast: -38 at Ukiah (tying monthly record from 1983), -33 at Enterprise 20NNE (all-time record for POR 1969-2010), -31 at Elgin (all-time record with POR back to 1937), -30 at Enterprise (tying monthly record from 1964), and -26 at Pendleton Experiment Station (tying monthly record from 1983).

 

In Washington state, this blast was also colder than the earlier event in many areas, especially east of the Cascades. Republic hit -27 on the 29th, the lowest temperature in the state for December 1990; Blaine hit 3 degrees and Wenatchee Experiment Station fell to -20 on the 29th as well. For the Wenatchee Exp. Station, this was an all-time record during its 47 year existence (1950-1997). 

 

The late December 1990 freeze was one of the most damaging on record in fruit-growing areas of eastern WA, due to widespread readings in the -10's and -20's without insulation from snow cover. In the Methow Valley, this was described as the worst freeze since December 1968 in terms of damage to orchards. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The amount of boundary layer cold advection in both Feb 1989 and the first Dec 1990 blast hasn't been approached since (Dec 1998 made a run at it though). The daytime maximums at Cascade Snotel stations really stand out for both of those cold waves, far colder than anything since for some stations in the 2,000 - 4,000 foot range. Something like 0-5F maximums at mid-slope elevations. 

 

Incredible. At 1350' Silver Falls recorded a 12/-2 day.

[ShawniganLake]

December 20, ‘90. 850’s dropping below -20C over most of Washington and northern Oregon

 0EB305D8-FF2A-4B96-813E-7FDEDC564001.gif   102.71KB   0 downloads