Past Weather Events Discussion 1800s to present

[wx_statman]

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...

 

COOP's report maximums/minimums for the 24 hour period beginning 7am the previous day until 7am on the current day. So the maximum ends up "carrying over" from the previous afternoon. Its especially noticeable if you're researching heat waves.

[wx_statman]

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.

 

That event was off the charts for the WA coast.

 

For those without access to the Fort Canby (Cape Disappointment) dataset, here are the 7am-2pm-9pm readings:

 

1/8: 30-29-29

1/9: 26-29-29

1/10: 29-31-36

1/11: 29-32-27

1/12: 19-21-21

1/13: 10-8-9

1/14: 8-16-12

1/15: 10-10-10

1/16: 10-12-10

1/17: 10-15-14

1/18: 10-20-23

1/19: 30-35-35

 

February 1989 on steroids.

[wx_statman]

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.

 

Definitely top tier for Oregon. No question in my mind.

 

Three major stations - in three different regions of OR - just missed all time record lows, in all three cases coming in second to December 1972.

 

-27 at Redmond

-10 at Eugene

-3 at Ashland

[wx_statman]

I'm going to migrate a few more of my posts into this thread. Time to copy and paste...

[wx_statman]

Here is the ridiculously cold January 1868 at Albany. This was one of the coldest months in PNW history, right up there with January 1862, and also featured one of the greatest cold waves on record. This month appears to have averaged between 22-25 degrees in most lowland areas of the I-5 corridor. Eugene fell to -15 during this month (on the 10th), and there was 3-4 feet of snow in Hillsboro according to one source I've seen.

NOTE: The following max/min data is derived from 3-observation daily logs (7 am, 2 pm, 9 pm), so the real high and low temperatures are not known. There could be a significant difference between the real 24 hour max/min data and the 3-observation-derived data that is shown, so keep that in mind. But to get a general idea of where things were, this obviously does the trick!

1/01: 50/39
1/02: 56/35
1/03: 37/33
1/04: 33/25 4" snow
1/05: 33/22
1/06: 23/13
1/07: 19/10
1/08: 24/20 4" snow
1/09: 29/6
1/10: 30/-4
1/11: 19/-6
1/12: 21/7
1/13: 28/16
1/14: 39/26 3" snow
1/15: 28/24
1/16: 22/10
1/17: 25/4
1/18: 24/2
1/19: 26/0 1.5" snow
1/20: 30/21 1.5" snow
1/21: 42/30
1/22: 36/22
1/23: 40/10
1/24: 30/28 missing snow data, but there was 0.75" of precip
1/25: 36/31 4.5" snow
1/26: 36/22
1/27: 32/18
1/28: 36/13
1/29: 30/8
1/30: 34/12
1/31: 32/11

-24.0 monthly average
-At least 18.5" snow, plus the one missing day that had either heavy snow or freezing rain, or both.
-Minimum of -6 observed at 7 am on the 11th, but the real minimum may have easily been -10 or lower between the observation times. Recall that Eugene bottomed out at -15 in this event, on the 10th.          

[wx_statman]

Here is March 1867 in Albany...probably the coldest March since pioneer settlement in the PNW. The western valleys averaged in the upper 30's that month, which would be below normal even for January. I've seen some monthly averages for other Willamette Valley signal service stations that were as low as 38 degrees for this month. It was a truly amazing anomaly. I also know that Boise averaged only 32 degrees for the month, about 4 degrees lower than the coldest March in modern records. Likewise, I remember reading that Fort Snelling (present day Minneapolis) averaged something like 5 degrees lower during March 1867 than in any March since in that area. Minnesota also felt the major cold wave in mid-March, with readings around -20 in St. Paul and down to an incredible -30 in Red Wing, just southeast of Minneapolis, on the 13th. A mining company in Virginia City, Montana measured -24 around the 13th, compared to a modern (post-1893) lowest reading of -16 for that late in the season (in 1906). I also recall Jim saying that Fort Steilacoom fell to 12 during this month. The mid-month cold wave in the PNW is at least equivalent to 1906 for severity that late in the season...but it appears to be not quite as intense as what happened three years later in mid-March 1870, at least in the western valleys.

Starting on February 28, 1867 since that was the beginning of the cold stretch.

2/28: 41/33 2.3" snow
3/01: 45/32
3/02: 42/35
3/03: 46/33
3/04: 43/31
3/05: 40/28
3/06: 48/36
3/07: 48/25
3/08: 44/23
3/09: 46/26
3/10: 46/21
3/11: 45/32
3/12: 34/28 (nothing shown for snowfall...I don't know if that's because none fell or if data is missing)
3/13: 38/16
3/14: 44/15
3/15: 50/19
3/16: 35/30 (again nothing shown for snowfall)
3/17: 39/22
3/18: 52/23
3/19: 52/24
3/20: 45/38
3/21: 45/33 0.1" snowfall
3/22: 46/28
3/23: 41/24
3/24: 53/34
3/25: 53/30 1" snowfall
3/26: 52/40
3/27: 57/36
3/28: 60/40
3/29: 60/42
3/30: 58/45
3/31: 53/42

39.8 monthly average          

[wx_statman]

Here is November 1872 at Eola, near Salem. This month featured what was probably the longest-lasting spell of cold weather that I've seen this early in the season in PNW history. Basically unbroken cold from November 8-28, though low temperatures never got too cold. At least that's the case in the Willamette Valley it appears, as you'll see a little further below it got very cold further north.

11/01: 50/36
11/02: 61/43
11/03: 46/43
11/04: 47/41
11/05: 50/45
11/06: 57/51
11/07: 58/52
11/08: 38/36
11/09: 40/33
11/10: 44/34
11/11: 40/31
11/12: 36/30
11/13: 29/26
11/14: 28/26
11/15: 36/25
11/16: 38/27
11/17: 40/28
11/18: 41/24
11/19: 38/22
11/20: 47/30
11/21: 44/33
11/22: 43/36
11/23: 42/27
11/24: 36/26
11/25: 44/29
11/26: 36/24
11/27: 41/27
11/28: 39/35
11/29: 51/39
11/30: 49/34

Snowfall data is not available, but precip data is - there was 0.06" on the 13th and 0.25" on the 14th, with temps in the 20's on both days. You can bet a pretty solid early season snowstorm blanketed the valley. Downtown Portland received 8.6" of snow in November 1872, and to this day that's the most Portland has seen in November. This was followed by 20.0" falling in Portland in December!

Esquimalt, BC (Victoria) also recorded this cold stretch. Only minimum temps were recorded however, not maximums:

11/08: 33
11/09: 28
11/10: 26
11/11: 23
11/12: 11
11/13: 21
11/14: 27
11/15: 25
11/16: 27
11/17: 28
11/18: 26
11/19: 28
11/20: 33
11/21: 39
11/22: 36
11/23: 23
11/24: 25
11/25: 37
11/26: 29
11/27: 28

An incredible low of 11F on November 12th, that ranks right up there with 1911 and 1955 for coldest minimums seen that early in the season west of the Cascades.          

[wx_statman]

Yeah December 1871 was pretty epic from what I've heard. Three straight weeks of snow in Seattle, and 25" for the month in Portland (50" for the winter). Its crazy how much snow fell in that short amount of time, when you consider that the 28.6" of snow in Nov-Dec 1872 followed right on the heels of 1871-72...Portland got 78.6" of snow in 14 months, from November 1871-December 1872.

I just looked at Eola for December 1871...no snow data but an extremely cold second half of the month, after a mild first half. Two major Arctic outbreaks, one around Dec 16-20 (2pm high of 20 on the 18th, along with 0.70" of melted precip) and an even bigger one around Dec 24-27:

18/11
19/7
20/16

On the 25th-27th, along with 0.90" of melted precip on the 26th-27th.

Just a feast of major cold and major snow for over a two week stretch in the Valley.          

 

Wow...not to go data-overkill or anything, but I just noticed there were two more major Arctic outbreaks later that winter in Eola! It was down to 14 on 1/25/1872, followed by a 2pm reading of 24 on Jan 26th. Ten days later in February, they went for 24/20 on Feb. 4th, and then a 25/8 day along with 9" of snow on Feb 5th! And this is after what happened in December. Just unbelievable. Downtown Portland had 15.4" this February to top out at that 50.0" total for the winter...
                                         

[wx_statman]

Yeah, a winter like 1871-72 would be to die for!

As far as January 1875 I'm actually surprised that Fort Townsend was that warm, at least for the highs. The low of 5 I can understand, being surrounded by water like you said...that's plenty impressive. But highs across the board were in the 10's along the I-5 corridor on several days during the event, with highs in the lower 10's on the coldest day. I'm sure the data is accurate and maybe it is the water that helped the high get all the way to 25, but that would seem kinda weird.

It was an absolutely incredible event in the Willamette Valley...a 12/3 day in downtown Portland and -12 in Silverton. The new data that I got for Eola is incredible as well:

 

Max/Min data derived from 3 daily obs (7am, 2pm, 9pm)

 

1/08: 30/22
1/09: 27/22
1/10: 38/24
1/11: 37/25
1/12: 23/18
1/13: 8/4 with 5" snow (2 pm temp of 7 degrees!)
1/14: 12/3
1/15: 20/9 with 1.5" snow
1/16: 14/7
1/17: 22/2
1/18: 13/8 with 4" snow
1/19: 39/20

The real low was easily below zero and maybe pushing -10 between the three daily observations. On the 13th it was already down to 4 degrees at 9 pm after a 5" snowfall. Overall six straight days of brutal cold and some of the coldest 10.5" of snow that ever fell around these parts. And it continued cold all the way until mid-February, very 1949 esque cold duration.

[wx_statman]

1889-1890 was an incredible winter.

-Portland averaged 38.7 in December, 31.7 in January, and 38.5 in February.
-In January 35.3" of snow fell, and the winter total was 41.6".
-A major Arctic outbreak in the first week of January dropped Portland to 12 and the valley into the single digits.
-Astoria averaged 35.3 with 22.5" of snow for January.
-In late January/early February one of the greatest pineapple express rainstorms in Willamette Valley history (12.96" of rain in Portland in 7 days!) led to one of the most damaging floods in history. The Willamette flood crest in downtown exceeded the 1861 crest by 5 inches, and major damage was reported in Albany, Salem and Oregon City.
-The greatest late-season cold wave of all time struck in late February, dropping Portland to 10 at the end of the month and the valley into the single digits.
-There was also plenty of late season cold in March and April, with snow in March.          

[wx_statman]

Time for some more old-time stats...here's one that blows me away:

Eola received 95.8" of snow in 1884!

32.5" in February (27.5" in the Feb. 15-18 storm)
2.5" in March
60.8" in December (53.8" in the December 16-22 storm sequence, with 37" on Dec. 16-17 - 22" and 15" respectively)

Just unbelievable numbers, even after you take into the account the likely 500-800 foot elevation.

A little to the south and on the valley floor, Albany received 50.4" for the year. Still an enormous snowfall year but obviously nowhere near Eola. Amazing what difference a few hundred feet make. Albany received 21" on Feb. 15-18, and 19" on Dec. 16-17. I've read other accounts about December 1884 that talked about three feet in Eugene, and 40" in Copalis on the Washington coast. Downtown Portland received 22.3" in the December 16-18 storm, and a monthly total of 34.1" - the 2nd snowiest month ever behind January 1890 (35.3"). Portland finished that year with 59.6" of snow, considering that 18.5" also fell in February along with 7.0" in January.          

[wx_statman]

As far as February 1899 there's quite a bit of info on that one. That was actually a triple-shot cold wave. You had the major Arctic outbreak down the west coast in the first week of the month, which isn't that well known, then a tremendous cold wave into the plains around Feb. 8-9, followed by the most well known and legendary cold wave of Feb 11-13, the one that set all those all-time records in the deep south and southeast. The overall Feb. 8-13, 1899 sequence is known as the greatest cold wave of all time in the US...

So yeah, it was overall definitely a bigger event than either of the 1883 events or 1989, at least in a lot of areas. The coverage of the three combined February 1899 cold waves was amazing, with all time records set coast to coast. However if you want to focus on only the early Feb 1899 event in the western US, I'd say it was in the same ballpark as either 1883 event, and 1989 as well. Feb 1899 in particular didn't have that many all-time records in the west, but was still a huge cold wave. Mount Angel recorded -15 thanks to a 10" snow depth and Corvallis hit -5 with good snow depth as well, but downtown Portland only saw 9 degrees. Government Camp set an all-time record low of -16 which stands to this day, which tells you how cold that airmass was. Down in Las Vegas you had their coldest high ever at 28, with a low of 11. There were some other really impressive numbers but it was nothing like what happened a week later east of the rockies...          

[wx_statman]

At Fort Canby in January 1868 the length of cold was awesome but the intensity was a little disappointing. Every single day from Jan 3-20 had afternoons in the 20's or 30's. The highest individual reading from those 18 days was 39F at 2:00PM on the 15th - this is out of three daily readings as was usual back then (7am, 2pm, 9pm).

The peak of the cold spell looked like this (7am, 2pm, 9pm):

1/4: 31-34-31
1/5: 28-32-26
1/6: 23-35-31
1/7: 20-23-21
1/8: 22-24-20
1/9: 23-28-26
1/10: 26-29-24
1/11: 29-30-28
1/12: 26-33-27
1/13: 27-34-33
1/14: 30-35-34

Considering that Albany showed a 7am reading of -6 at one point and Eugene supposedly fell to -15, those numbers are a little underwhelming on the coast. Even though they likely did fall to 15 or something between the observation times.

Also, this is obviously an exposed location, further out than even Astoria - I'm sure stations like Aberdeen or Tillamook would have fallen into the 0's for lows in this event.          

[wx_statman]

Fort Canby, January 1875, 7am-2pm-9pm:

1/1: 34-36-36
1/2: 36-38-35
1/3: 35-39-35
1/4: 35-39-33
1/5: 31-33-32
1/6: 35-39-37
1/7: 40-39-38
1/8: 30-29-29
1/9: 26-29-29
1/10: 29-31-36
1/11: 29-32-27
1/12: 19-21-21
1/13: 10-8-9
1/14: 8-16-12
1/15: 10-10-10
1/16: 10-12-10
1/17: 10-15-14
1/18: 10-20-23
1/19: 30-35-35
1/20: 35-37-35
1/21: 34-38-35
1/22: 31-39-36
1/23: 30-37-35
1/24: 35-40-38
1/25: 35-40-34
1/26: 29-40-36
1/27: 30-37-34
1/28: 30-40-34
1/29: 28-37-34
1/30: 29-38-34
1/31: 27-44-44

I don't have enough adjectives to describe that.

8F at 2:00 PM on 1/13/1875 at Cape Disappointment.

7 straight days where the 2pm readings were 21 or lower...5 straight at 16 or lower.          

[wx_statman]

To piggyback on the conversation in this thread today - yeah 1989 was a top-tier event. It would have been considered a freakish cold wave even in the late 19th century. The direct competition from that era along the northern Oregon/southern Washington coast would have been Jan 1875, Feb 1887, and Jan 1888.

-Jan 1875 had the 10/8 numbers at Fort Canby from 3 daily obs
-Feb 1887 had a 22/14 day at Fort Canby - true max/min data, which kicked in starting 1883 at that location.
-Jan 1888 had a 21/11 day at Fort Canby, and as I mentioned a 16/10 day at Astoria - both true max/min data.

There were a bunch of smaller events too that were still pretty intense at Fort Canby, with highs in the 20's and lows in the 10's to lower 20's.

Also, given the data that I know I would say both 1875 and 1888 beat Feb 1989 for intensity of cold around the mouth of the Columbia river...but that's nothing to be ashamed of if you're 1989. I mean, you're talking about two of the greatest PNW cold waves of all time.          

[IbrChris]

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.

Oh that is definitely doable. I think I'd try to get Ft Steilacoom, Ft Vancouver, Ft Dalles and perhaps Eola and Astoria. Of course I'd share whatever I get.

[wx_statman]

Oh that is definitely doable. I think I'd try to get Ft Steilacoom, Ft Vancouver, Ft Dalles and perhaps Eola and Astoria. Of course I'd share whatever I get.

 

Yeah let me know if you get any of these. I would appreciate Ft. Vancouver data especially. I suppose I could get it myself, but it seems like I never get around to it!

[IbrChris]

Before I commit to order though I want to make sure neither of you have the data for those stations. I know Ft Vancouver has been fully keyed (as shown in the MRCC Forts inventory).

[IbrChris]

I know someone posted extensive data from Eola. I notice the NCDC COOP database has some data from Eola. I swear I saw the old Olympia COOP sheets (photocopied images) but I can't figure out where. I think somewhere at NCDC.

[wx_statman]

Before I commit to order though I want to make sure neither of you have the data for those stations. I know Ft Vancouver has been fully keyed (as shown in the MRCC Forts inventory).

 

I have Eola for 1865-1892. Nothing else that I haven't emailed to you.

 

The tail end of the Eola dataset is available at the NCDC. Something like 1887-1892. The original hand written forms are there.

[IbrChris]

I have Eola for 1865-1892. Nothing else that I haven't emailed to you.

 

The tail end of the Eola dataset is available at the NCDC. Something like 1887-1892. The original hand written forms are there.

Ok...after the holiday I will get in contact with MRCC for data shipping. Send me Eola .csv when you get a chance and I'll do likewise once I have the Ft. Vancouver data. Think I will spring for Ft. Steilacoom and Ft. Dalles as well so we get a more regional look at some of these events. $20-30 is worth it IMO.

[snow_wizard]

I still plan to post some of the charts I have completed in this thread.  Just got sidetracked for a few days.  I also have a composite of January 1880 made up of Olympia and Bainbridge Island records and snowfall data for downtown Seattle from the PI.  I think the final result probably gives a very good picture of the actual numbers for the Seattle area.

[wx_statman]

Ok...after the holiday I will get in contact with MRCC for data shipping. Send me Eola .csv when you get a chance and I'll do likewise once I have the Ft. Vancouver data. Think I will spring for Ft. Steilacoom and Ft. Dalles as well so we get a more regional look at some of these events. $20-30 is worth it IMO.

 

That sounds good. I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you get.

 

I sent Eola and Albany to you. I got mixed up on the years earlier. Eola only goes back to 1870, Albany to 1865.

[wx_statman]

I still plan to post some of the charts I have completed in this thread.  Just got sidetracked for a few days.  I also have a composite of January 1880 made up of Olympia and Bainbridge Island records and snowfall data for downtown Seattle from the PI.  I think the final result probably gives a very good picture of the actual numbers for the Seattle area.

 

Very interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing this.

[BLI snowman]

One event that never gets talked about is March 1865. Looks like a pretty incredible event, Fort Vancouver had a 24/15 day on 3/1/1865 and Fort Steilacoom was 25/18. Ridiculous.

[BLI snowman]

1849-50 was a very nice winter that might get overlooked since there were no epic cold spells, but piecing together the Fort Vancouver, Fort Steilacoom, and Fort Victoria records you can see that it had several very significant snowfalls and a lot of cold weather.

 

December 1849 was a chilly month with a bunch of snow and cold air in the first 20 days.  There was a solid arctic airmass with a big snowtorm at the midway point of the month. Looks like quite a bit of snow at Fort Vancouver over the course of 10 or so days and five straight subfreezing highs. Fort Victoria's journal describes numerous cold days and a snow depth of 15" on December 17.  

 

January 1850 started off chilly after a Christmas thaw, and stayed cool. Big Fraser River event started midmonth, as evidenced by the big S-N temperature gradient and strong NE winds at Fort Victoria. A massive snow event started for the Puget Sound region around the 20th and continued for about a week. Fort Steilacoom has a number of heavy looking snow days and Fort Victoria journals mentioned a snow depth of 13" on January 22 with several days of snow afterwards. 

 

February 1850 was mostly mild and had little noteworthy besides a decent cold spell towards the end of the month with some highs in the 30s that last week. 

 

March 1850 was another month with a remarkably chilly first 20 days. Looks like at least 7 or 8 different days with snow in the lowlands, and a fairly significant snow/cold event midmonth that produced an obscenely cold high of 34 at Fort Vancouver on March 18. 

[IbrChris]

One event that never gets talked about is March 1865. Looks like a pretty incredible event, Fort Vancouver had a 24/15 day on 3/1/1865 and Fort Steilacoom was 25/18. Ridiculous.

Well that March 1st appears to be the coldest in history for the Portland/Vancouver area...also up north (aside from Bellingham). Phenomenal...now I'll have to check Ft. Colville.

[IbrChris]

That sounds good. I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you get.

 

I sent Eola and Albany to you. I got mixed up on the years earlier. Eola only goes back to 1870, Albany to 1865.

Much thanks! Yes of course anything I get I will forward.

[IbrChris]

Here's a look at current keyed inventory over on MRCC for WA.
 

Of note:
 

Bainbridge Island 1878-1887 (105 months)
Blakeley 1878-1891 (66 months)
Columbia Barracks 1850-1853 (24 months)
Ft Steilacoom 1849-1868 (192 months)
Ft Townsend 1858-1892 (245 months)
Ft Vancouver 1849-1868 (164 months)
Ft Walla Walla 1857-1892 (214 months)

Seattle 1871-1892 (109 months including Jan 1888)

Walla Walla 1869-1892 (110 months)

[BLI snowman]

Well that March 1st appears to be the coldest in history for the Portland/Vancouver area...also up north (aside from Bellingham). Phenomenal...now I'll have to check Ft. Colville.

 

Yeah, would love to see temps from Whatcom County from that one.

 

I received some somewhat choppy data from the climate folks at MRCC, and March 1867 appears to just have been a flabbergastingly impressive gorge outflow event. Nothing else compares for Fort Vancouver (or anywhere else in the western lowlands over the last century)

 

3/9: 40/24

3/10: 39/23

3/11: 40/30

3/12: 28/20

3/13: 30/16

3/14: 28/20

3/15: 30/23

3/16: 28/21

3/17: 36/25

3/18: 40/26

 

The cold was obviously very shallow and gorge related, because Fort Steilacoom and Albany, while both impressive, aren't even remotely close on that extreme duration. 

[snow_wizard]

One event that never gets talked about is March 1865. Looks like a pretty incredible event, Fort Vancouver had a 24/15 day on 3/1/1865 and Fort Steilacoom was 25/18. Ridiculous.

 

I love that one.  I have a chart made up for that and will post it also.

[snow_wizard]

Here's a look at current keyed inventory over on MRCC for WA.

 

Of note:

 

Bainbridge Island 1878-1887 (105 months)

Blakeley 1878-1891 (66 months)

Columbia Barracks 1850-1853 (24 months)

Ft Steilacoom 1849-1868 (192 months)

Ft Townsend 1858-1892 (245 months)

Ft Vancouver 1849-1868 (164 months)

Ft Walla Walla 1857-1892 (214 months)

Seattle 1871-1892 (109 months including Jan 1888)

Walla Walla 1869-1892 (110 months)

 

I really want that Bainbridge Island data.  The Seattle data is very choppy through that period.  There are some months from 1870.  Strange they didn't key that.

[snow_wizard]

Another event I'm curious to see more data on is the July 1870 heat wave.  From what I can tell it may have been the greatest ever witnessed here.  Amazingly that is one of the months where there are records from Seattle.  I thought the numbers had to be wrong until I saw the eye popping data from the San Juans on that.

[BLI snowman]

I love that one.  I have a chart made up for that and will post it also.

 

I have the Fort Steilacoom numbers for March 1865 and they are very impressive. Obviously the high/lows aren't definite, but they give you a great idea. Awesome double shot event. Cold started at the end of February:

 

2/27: 37/31

2/28: 26/22

3/1: 25/18

3/2: 29/18

3/3: 38/31

3/4: 43/38

3/5: 45/38 

3/6: 35/30

3/7: 26/12

3/8: 34/12 (overrunning snow event) 

[BLI snowman]

Here is the ridiculously cold January 1868 at Albany. This was one of the coldest months in PNW history, right up there with January 1862, and also featured one of the greatest cold waves on record. This month appears to have averaged between 22-25 degrees in most lowland areas of the I-5 corridor. Eugene fell to -15 during this month (on the 10th), and there was 3-4 feet of snow in Hillsboro according to one source I've seen.

 

NOTE: The following max/min data is derived from 3-observation daily logs (7 am, 2 pm, 9 pm), so the real high and low temperatures are not known. There could be a significant difference between the real 24 hour max/min data and the 3-observation-derived data that is shown, so keep that in mind. But to get a general idea of where things were, this obviously does the trick!

 

1/01: 50/39

1/02: 56/35

1/03: 37/33

1/04: 33/25 4" snow

1/05: 33/22

1/06: 23/13

1/07: 19/10

1/08: 24/20 4" snow

1/09: 29/6

1/10: 30/-4

1/11: 19/-6

1/12: 21/7

1/13: 28/16

1/14: 39/26 3" snow

1/15: 28/24

1/16: 22/10

1/17: 25/4

1/18: 24/2

1/19: 26/0 1.5" snow

1/20: 30/21 1.5" snow

1/21: 42/30

1/22: 36/22

1/23: 40/10

1/24: 30/28 missing snow data, but there was 0.75" of precip

1/25: 36/31 4.5" snow

1/26: 36/22

1/27: 32/18

1/28: 36/13

1/29: 30/8

1/30: 34/12

1/31: 32/11

 

-24.0 monthly average

-At least 18.5" snow, plus the one missing day that had either heavy snow or freezing rain, or both.

-Minimum of -6 observed at 7 am on the 11th, but the real minimum may have easily been -10 or lower between the observation times. Recall that Eugene bottomed out at -15 in this event, on the 10th.          

 

That was similarly impressive at Fort Vancouver. The cold really lasted through early February. A lot like 1862, just weeks on end of cold. Might be equally impressive to that.

 

12/27: 35/28

12/28: 35/25

12/29: 34/30

12/30: 32/29

12/31: 40/32 (1.76" of precip)

1/1: 43/39

1/2: 39/33

1/3: 36/33 (1.22" of precip)

1/4: 34/23 (0.37" of precip)

1/5: 28/21

1/6: 19/9

1/7: 15/12

1/8: 20/16

1/9: 23/19

1/10: 19/12

1/11: 24/10

1/12: 22/9

1/13: 23/15

1/14: 29/23

1/15: 29/20

1/16: 27/10

1/17: 25/12

1/18: 22/5

1/19: 21/8

1/20: 20/18 (2pm temp missing)

1/21: 31/29 (0.08" of precip)

1/22: 32/23

1/23: 28/10

1/24: 26/22

1/25: 37/28

1/26: 39/20 (0.55" of precip)

1/27: 28/13

1/28: 35/11

1/29: 26/15

1/30: 22/14

1/31: 26/9

2/1: 23/15

2/2: 28/16

2/3: 29/14

2/4: 38/25

2/5: 34/27

2/6: 39/27

2/7: 25/21 (0.20" of precip)

2/8: 26/14

2/9: 28/14

 

 

Assuming there's some validity to all these, that would be about 31 highs below freezing, including 20 consecutive at one point.

[IbrChris]

Another event I'm curious to see more data on is the July 1870 heat wave.  From what I can tell it may have been the greatest ever witnessed here.  Amazingly that is one of the months where there are records from Seattle.  I thought the numbers had to be wrong until I saw the eye popping data from the San Juans on that.

Do share...I am not familiar with that one.

[wx_statman]

One event that never gets talked about is March 1865. Looks like a pretty incredible event, Fort Vancouver had a 24/15 day on 3/1/1865 and Fort Steilacoom was 25/18. Ridiculous.

 

Fort Canby was 27-20 on 3/1/1865. On the coast...

[wx_statman]

1849-50 was a very nice winter that might get overlooked since there were no epic cold spells, but piecing together the Fort Vancouver, Fort Steilacoom, and Fort Victoria records you can see that it had several very significant snowfalls and a lot of cold weather.

 

December 1849 was a chilly month with a bunch of snow and cold air in the first 20 days.  There was a solid arctic airmass with a big snowtorm at the midway point of the month. Looks like quite a bit of snow at Fort Vancouver over the course of 10 or so days and five straight subfreezing highs. Fort Victoria's journal describes numerous cold days and a snow depth of 15" on December 17.  

 

January 1850 started off chilly after a Christmas thaw, and stayed cool. Big Fraser River event started midmonth, as evidenced by the big S-N temperature gradient and strong NE winds at Fort Victoria. A massive snow event started for the Puget Sound region around the 20th and continued for about a week. Fort Steilacoom has a number of heavy looking snow days and Fort Victoria journals mentioned a snow depth of 13" on January 22 with several days of snow afterwards. 

 

February 1850 was mostly mild and had little noteworthy besides a decent cold spell towards the end of the month with some highs in the 30s that last week. 

 

March 1850 was another month with a remarkably chilly first 20 days. Looks like at least 7 or 8 different days with snow in the lowlands, and a fairly significant snow/cold event midmonth that produced an obscenely cold high of 34 at Fort Vancouver on March 18. 

 

I remember when the OCS had a table of fort and signal service data from the 1840's-1870's era on their website. This was maybe in the early 2000's? They had a monthly average of 37.1 for Ft. Vancouver in March 1850. I've always been curious about that month since. Looks like it was a beast.

[wx_statman]

Another event I'm curious to see more data on is the July 1870 heat wave.  From what I can tell it may have been the greatest ever witnessed here.  Amazingly that is one of the months where there are records from Seattle.  I thought the numbers had to be wrong until I saw the eye popping data from the San Juans on that.

 

Just by looking at Eola numbers it looks like a pretty major heat wave peaked between July 3-7 that year. Their 2pm obs were:

 

92

92

93

93

92

 

This station was most likely located in the Eola Hills at 500+ elevation, judging by their snowfall statistics. So add a couple degrees to arrive at valley floor numbers. And a few more degrees considering peak heating in early July occurs between 4-6pm. You're talking five straight days where Salem was making a run at 100 degrees.

[wx_statman]

That was similarly impressive at Fort Vancouver. The cold really lasted through early February. A lot like 1862, just weeks on end of cold. Might be equally impressive to that.

 

12/27: 35/28

12/28: 35/25

12/29: 34/30

12/30: 32/29

12/31: 40/32 (1.76" of precip)

1/1: 43/39

1/2: 39/33

1/3: 36/33 (1.22" of precip)

1/4: 34/23 (0.37" of precip)

1/5: 28/21

1/6: 19/9

1/7: 15/12

1/8: 20/16

1/9: 23/19

1/10: 19/12

1/11: 24/10

1/12: 22/9

1/13: 23/15

1/14: 29/23

1/15: 29/20

1/16: 27/10

1/17: 25/12

1/18: 22/5

1/19: 21/8

1/20: 20/18 (2pm temp missing)

1/21: 31/29 (0.08" of precip)

1/22: 32/23

1/23: 28/10

1/24: 26/22

1/25: 37/28

1/26: 39/20 (0.55" of precip)

1/27: 28/13

1/28: 35/11

1/29: 26/15

1/30: 22/14

1/31: 26/9

2/1: 23/15

2/2: 28/16

2/3: 29/14

2/4: 38/25

2/5: 34/27

2/6: 39/27

2/7: 25/21 (0.20" of precip)

2/8: 26/14

2/9: 28/14

 

 

Assuming there's some validity to all these, that would be about 31 highs below freezing, including 20 consecutive at one point.

 

That's some serious duration. I'm kinda surprised they didn't score lower minimums though. Looks like a January 1930 type profile where minimums were much colder once you got away from the immediate Portland/Vancouver area.