Past Weather Events Discussion 1800s to present

[wx_statman]

The -15 at Mt. Angel in Feb. 1899 is pretty shocking and I have often wondered about its authenticity. Especially given that the station was located on the Abbey Hill a couple hundred feet off the valley floor. 

 

Its unfortunate the modern Silverton Coop station is on a hill as well. For instance they only hit 0 on 12/8/72 when SLE hit -12 and Silver Falls hit -9. The Mesonet which is about 1/2 mile away, but at the bottom of the hill routinely records much colder temperatures as Silverton at valley floor level is actually a decent radiational cooling spot.

 

Interesting. I never knew that station was located on the hill. I want to believe that reading. Mt. Angel got a huge dump of snow going into that airmass, plus there were other subzero readings in the valley. For example an official -5 in Corvallis.

[wx_statman]

Well, there's these things called greedy "public" universities that believe they should be able to charge someone in perpetuity to access data that is public domain. University of Illinois-Urbana I wouldn't touch with a 10' pole. Overpriced cesspool. In short they are trying to milk it for all it's worth because they keyed the data. Thing is they are all government employees and we paid for the data already, and their salaries.

 

I'm just glad they keyed it. Nobody else was doing it.

[IbrChris]

I'm just glad they keyed it. Nobody else was doing it.

Should have been easy enough to simply scan the forms and post the images online much like NCDC has done with COOP forms.

[wx_statman]

I am certainly interested in that! I will PM my email address to you. One very cool thing I have is a list of all of the places in Washington where weather data was recorded in the 19th century (prior to 1893) including a rundown of all of the months that records were kept. There are dozens of stations in all, and I have about half of the available ones on microfilm. One I'm really anxious to see made available is Bainbridge Island and I do not have the roll of microfilm that was on. That was the closest place to Seattle to keep records in the 1878 through 1883 period. Tacoma records are available from 1884 through Mar 1887 and then Seattle is available for Apr 1887 through Sept 1888 and then Aug 1890 through Dec 1892 (all of which I have on microfilm). 1893 is actually one of the trickiest years to get for Seattle. I came across bits and pieces of those in a number of places and pieced it all together. The big dead spot for the Central and South Sound (starting from 1850) is 1869 through early 1877. Thankfully there are some partial records for Seattle for a good part of 1870 and partial records from Dec 1871.

 

Its too bad Seattle has such big gaps in data from that era. Kind of makes you wish Washington was granted statehood a little earlier than 1889. Would have made a difference in the amount of government funding, and by extension funding for things meteorological.

[IbrChris]

Events I've included so far (complete):

 

* Jan 1875

* Dec 1879

* Jan 1883

* Feb 1883

* Jan 1888

* Jan-Feb 1893 (incl snowfall, partially done)

 

I'll include more events between these years as well esp if you guys have some data for those events. There won't be much data for Dec 1871 as it stands now. I'll need someone to nail down start and end days in Dec so I can home in on the correct timeframe for the reanalysis maps. Perhaps using Eola data. There is no easily found BC data for pre-1873.

[IbrChris]

The Jan-Feb 1893 event wasn't too remarkable in terms of cold down in Oregon. Portland reached 8 and most of the valley was 5-10 on the coldest night.

[IbrChris]

I plan to add Jan, Feb 1884 and Feb 1887 events

[wx_statman]

Jim and Chris - I emailed you guys what I have for WA. Olympia, Fort Canby, and Fort Colville.

[wx_statman]

Should have been easy enough to simply scan the forms and post the images online much like NCDC has done with COOP forms.

 

Yeah would have been nice. But nobody was doing that either. I think this was a case of first come first served for the folks behind the Forts project.

[IbrChris]

Thx for the email. I was gonna ask as well what you had for Ft Vancouver.

[IbrChris]

Jan 1862 at Ft. Colville (1-31st) was remarkable. Sure the -30 on Jan 17th was bested in the 1875 and 1968 events but Jan 1862 is king for duration.

High | Low from three daily obs: 7:00, 14:00 and 21:00
 

13 1

15 1

10 -7

11 -10

10 3

9 0

26 18

28 10

17 10

13 -2

15 -16

-5 -26

7 -6

10 1

-4 -23

-6 -28

-3 -30

2 -26

8 -10

23 12

23 16

39 24

38 13

27 7

20 -7

18 -8

-3 -26

4 -16

-3 -28

-4 -28

5 -17

[IbrChris]

Wx Statman I am curious what the price is per year per station? Or is it per month per station?

If you haven't gotten the Ft. Vancouver data I think that would be worth purchasing. I wouldn't mind either helping out there or even purchasing it myself if it's not too spendy.

[IbrChris]

Ft. Colville 63 deg at 7 am on Dec 3, 1861...it had cooled down to 49 by 2 pm and 38 by 9 pm. That's incredible warmth...wonder if it was downsloping?

[snow_wizard]

Jim and Chris - I emailed you guys what I have for WA. Olympia, Fort Canby, and Fort Colville.

Thank you!

 

I love how I can just cut and paste the data into my excel charts. I will eventually have a full set of records for the Puget Sound region from Dec 1849 to present. The 1850 to 1890 period will be made up of Seattle, Tacoma, Fort Steilacom, Olympia, and some Bainbridge Island records. The frustrating period is 1869 through 1876. About the only thing available is Fort Townsend or the San Juans, and that climate is so different than the other places in a number of ways.

[snow_wizard]

Ft. Colville 63 deg at 7 am on Dec 3, 1861...it had cooled down to 49 by 2 pm and 38 by 9 pm. That's incredible warmth...wonder if it was downsloping?

I think we had a massive AR event going at that time. Must have warmed the entire region.

[IbrChris]

March 1867 at Ft. Colville...again the max and min of the 3 daily obs. Unparalleled March cold in the PNW at least in the modern era.
 

30 7

28 -5

32 5

30 8

38 6

32 1

32 10

30 9

27 -2

34 -3

18 2

11 -20

21 -11

28 0

30 1

29 3

30 -7

38 18

28 12

25 -5

21 -10

25 -7

33 -3

36 16

48 31

46 28

44 27

45 28

48 27

44 30

46 35

[IbrChris]

Thank you!

 

I love how I can just cut and paste the data into my excel charts. I will eventually have a full set of records for the Puget Sound region from Dec 1849 to present. The 1850 to 1890 period will be made up of Seattle, Tacoma, Fort Steilacom, Olympia, and some Bainbridge Island records. The frustrating period is 1869 through 1876. About the only thing available is Fort Townsend r the San Juans, and that climate is so different than the other places in a number of ways.

Jim, would you mind screenshotting some key months for those stations you mentioned there? Some months I'm thinking of: Jan 1854, Dec 1855 (I believe that month Ft Van hit -1), Jan-Feb 1862, Jan 1868, Mar 1870, Dec 1871, Jan 1875 etc and posting them? I recall you did several awhile back (Ft. Vancouver Jan-Feb 1862 and Ft. Walla Walla 1862).

 

Much thanks.

[IbrChris]

Ft. Colville end of Dec 1867...nice brief arctic blast. Max/min of 3 daily obs.

Dec 26-31, 1867:
 

37 23

14 3

5 -6

0 -8

25 14

24 21

 

Jan 1868:
 

32 27

33 30

31 21

28 12

11 5

1 -12

11 -2

17 -15

1 -9

-10 -15

-2 -10

13 12

15 5

16 6

10 -3

11 -8

11 -7

9 5

12 -10

18 15

24 24

24 19

35 14

34 14

30 6

21 -3

20 -4

18 -6

15 -6

18 -3

18 -4

Possibly the longest stretch of sub-20 highs on record for Ft. Colville (16)...warmest day only 35 for the entire month. Incredible.

[IbrChris]

Sept 14-21, 1868 some very early chill! Possibly some snow although precip data is missing for Sept 1868 at Ft. Colville. Max/min of the three daily obs.
 

51 39

49 30

45 27

42 30

46 39

36 30

42 30

54 37

 

Sept 19, 1868: 7 am temp of 30, 2 pm temp of 36, 9 pm temp of 33.

[IbrChris]

Ft. Colville March 1870...cold but not the caliber of 1867.
 

39 30

41 32

34 21

36 10

39 24

36 19

44 28

44 28

42 33

43 26

38 26

23 14

19 4

24 -2

26 3

36 22

40 27

42 19

41 22

41 34

45 36

47 33

49 33

39 35

47 32

47 34

47 33

50 29

53 33

55 30

57 33

[IbrChris]

Dec 1871 event appears to have been focused on the tail end of Dec.

December 22-31, 1871 Ft. Colville
 

25 12

12 3

9 -5

4 -10

-5 -22

6 -14

10 5

20 11

10 -5

12 5

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Interesting. I never knew that station was located on the hill. I want to believe that reading. Mt. Angel got a huge dump of snow going into that airmass, plus there were other subzero readings in the valley. For example an official -5 in Corvallis.

 

The elevation of the station is listed as 488'. Which would be about the top of the Abbey Hill where a Catholic Monastery sits. I actually worked in the kitchen up there for two years when I was figuring out what to do with my life. The monks or seminarians must have kept the records. 

 

Mt. Angel itself sits at about 180' so the hill rises about 300' or so above the town that sits at its base. It is an interesting hill if you have never been to Mt. Angel as it is not connected to the Cascade Foothills and is a solitary hill for that part of the valley. The foothills are about 3-4 miles to the east. I have seen several occasions when there was accumulating snow on the hill when there was not in Mt. Angel, so their spring (March/April) snowfall stats are probably not representative of the valley floor, which makes some sense as looking through their data set there does seem to be an anomalous amount of spring snow fall. 

[IbrChris]

I was just noticing starting about 1873 when the max and min are reported for the day...it appears the max is actually often for the day prior. Min most of the time is the morning of that day.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I personally think the -15 at Mt. Angel from February 1899 is a legit reading. They have other fairly cold readings, but its not like they have a long string of suspiciously low readings either. Some highlights from the 1893-1926 period in addition to the -15.

 

Jan 1909: -2

Dec 1919: -3

Dec 1924: 3

 

They recorded about 24" of snow in January 1909. Its unfortunate they don't have snowfall data for January 1916, because it looks like that month was a beast at that location with a monthly mean of 32.0.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I was just noticing starting about 1873 when the max and min are reported for the day...it appears the max is actually often for the day prior. Min most of the time is the morning of that day.

 

I've noticed weird instances like that at a lot of stations. Kind of like how Silver Falls officially had a high of 30 on 12/30/68...Yeah um huh...

[IbrChris]

The elevation of the station is listed as 488'. Which would be about the top of the Abbey Hill where a Catholic Monastery sits. I actually worked in the kitchen up there for two years when I was figuring out what to do with my life. The monks or seminarians must have kept the records. 

 

Mt. Angel itself sits at about 180' so the hill rises about 300' or so above the town that sits at its base. It is an interesting hill if you have never been to Mt. Angel as it is not connected to the Cascade Foothills and is a solitary hill for that part of the valley. The foothills are about 3-4 miles to the east. I have seen several occasions when there was accumulating snow on the hill when there was not in Mt. Angel, so their spring (March/April) snowfall stats are probably not representative of the valley floor, which makes some sense as looking through their data set there does seem to be an anomalous amount of spring snow fall. 

There are quite a few "island" hills in the Willamette Valley. Eola Hills and South Salem Hills being two others near Salem. Also Amity Hills further S. Up here we have the random buttes in east Portland metro as well as a few out on the west side like Sexton, Cooper and Bull. I also view the Chehalem/Parrett "ridge" as being an island hill chain.

[IbrChris]

I've noticed weird instances like that at a lot of stations. Kind of like how Silver Falls officially had a high of 30 on 12/30/68...Yeah um huh...

This is because they are reading it from a max/min thermometer which doesn't automatically reset, it has to be manually reset. Assuming that is done every day at first obs (say 7 am) then virtually every max temp noted on that date will be from the day prior.

[IbrChris]

Jan 1875 at Ft Colville featured this impressive stretch:

Jan 4-20, 1875 actual max/min readings.
 

27 -11

20 -17

15 -14

15 -20

15 -16

4 -10

5 -4

14 -5

8 -33

-5 -31

4 -30

-5 -30

-1 -26

2 -27

4 -26

9 -8

22 -4

A very impressive 16 day stretch with sub-zero lows and 8 consecutive days with sub-10 highs (almost managed 11 consecutive days).

[SilverFallsAndrew]

This is because they are reading it from a max/min thermometer which doesn't automatically reset, it has to be manually reset. Assuming that is done every day at first obs (say 7 am) then virtually every max temp noted on that date will be from the day prior.

 

That makes sense. So since the Dec 1968 cold blast really only peaked on the calendar day 12/30/68 down here, the Silver Falls obs missed capturing the true fury of that one day.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

There are quite a few "island" hills in the Willamette Valley. Eola Hills and South Salem Hills being two others near Salem. Also Amity Hills further S. Up here we have the random buttes in east Portland metro as well as a few out on the west side like Sexton, Cooper and Bull. I also view the Chehalem/Parrett "ridge" as being an island hill chain.

 

There are a lot down south of Albany too, just east of I-5. Abbey Hill or "Mt. Angel" is fairly solitary and misplaced. It is more like the random buttes in the east Portland metro than some of the other hills you mentioned which are more "substantial."

[SilverFallsAndrew]

https://www.mountangelabbey.org/photo-tour/

[IbrChris]

Looking at Ft. Canby for Jan 1875 the temp stayed in the teens for 5 days straight with a coldest obs of 8. The temp was 23 or below for 7 straight days.

[snow_wizard]

Jim, would you mind screenshotting some key months for those stations you mentioned there? Some months I'm thinking of: Jan 1854, Dec 1855 (I believe that month Ft Van hit -1), Jan-Feb 1862, Jan 1868, Mar 1870, Dec 1871, Jan 1875 etc and posting them? I recall you did several awhile back (Ft. Vancouver Jan-Feb 1862 and Ft. Walla Walla 1862).

 

Much thanks.

Yeah...I have most of those transcribed. I will post some of them tomorrow.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Statman, just curious where you view the December 2013 arctic outbreak. Because of what happened south of Salem and in E. Oregon do you view it as top tier at least for Oregon? 

 

I think it also shows that under optimal conditions it is certainly possible for select Willamette Valley spots to hit double digit negatives, even in today's climate. The deep snow cover, calm winds, and clear skies were certainly lined up perfectly, but there have definitely been fairly significantly colder airmasses at EUG. I think its definitely possible for that location to hit -15. Whether they will or not in my lifetime, we will have to wait and see.

[IbrChris]

I will definitely be adding Dec 2013 and Feb 2014 to my arctic blasts database. Those events will be much easier to research than these 19th century ones.

[wx_statman]

Thx for the email. I was gonna ask as well what you had for Ft Vancouver.

 

I never had Ft. Vancouver data...

[wx_statman]

Wx Statman I am curious what the price is per year per station? Or is it per month per station?

 

If you haven't gotten the Ft. Vancouver data I think that would be worth purchasing. I wouldn't mind either helping out there or even purchasing it myself if it's not too spendy.

 

Its pretty cheap. Something like $24 for all three WA datasets. I went through Nancy Westcott at the MRCC. At the time I got the data (2010) they had just started the project so Ft. Canby, Ft. Colville, and Olympia were the only WA stations they had that were of any interest to me. By this point I'm sure they have more. Probably Ft. Vancouver too.

[wx_statman]

I think we had a massive AR event going at that time. Must have warmed the entire region.

 

Yeah I think that was during the big Willamette Valley flood.

[wx_statman]

Ft. Colville March 1870...cold but not the caliber of 1867.

 

39 30

41 32

34 21

36 10

39 24

36 19

44 28

44 28

42 33

43 26

38 26

23 14

19 4

24 -2

26 3

36 22

40 27

42 19

41 22

41 34

45 36

47 33

49 33

39 35

47 32

47 34

47 33

50 29

53 33

55 30

57 33

 

Yeah March 1870 was much more impressive west of the Cascades, as well as in the Alaska panhandle.

 

-10 in Wrangell. Pretty incredible for the 2nd week of March.

[wx_statman]

The elevation of the station is listed as 488'. Which would be about the top of the Abbey Hill where a Catholic Monastery sits. I actually worked in the kitchen up there for two years when I was figuring out what to do with my life. The monks or seminarians must have kept the records. 

 

Mt. Angel itself sits at about 180' so the hill rises about 300' or so above the town that sits at its base. It is an interesting hill if you have never been to Mt. Angel as it is not connected to the Cascade Foothills and is a solitary hill for that part of the valley. The foothills are about 3-4 miles to the east. I have seen several occasions when there was accumulating snow on the hill when there was not in Mt. Angel, so their spring (March/April) snowfall stats are probably not representative of the valley floor, which makes some sense as looking through their data set there does seem to be an anomalous amount of spring snow fall. 

 

Yeah I've been up to the Abbey a couple times. Interesting place.