Rate the Winter!

[Black Hole]

Well I think I know what most of us will say. But go ahead and rate the winter for your area and give some explanation or highlights if you want!

 

For Salt Lake City: F-

 

This is literally the worst winter in modern times for snowfall with only 6.8" of snow at the airport so far, that is 35.8" below normal or just 16% of normal values.

 

Precipitation is at 3.04" out of the normal value of 6.49."

 

It has also been an absolute blowtorch with well above average temperatures each of the winter months. February was at 17F above normal as of last week. This will likely be the warmest winter on record and we are at something like 50 or 60 days above normal in a row.

 

And to top it all off there has been a general lack of interesting weather events to break up the monotony. No big wind events, precip events, even inversion events. Just nothing.

 

Anybody else have anything better to say?

[MossMan]

For my area...

November: B- (two inches of snow that stuck around for nearly 7 days, several sub freezing highs, and also several lows in the lower teens)

December: C- (Very nice windstorm around mid month, and a couple more sub freezing highs and lows in the teens at the end of the month)

January: F (Horribly boring)

February: D+ (Sun and warm has been kind of nice) 

[richard mann]

http://www.proxigee.com/zero_score-cards.jpeg

 

Nah. Probably a 3 .. more over-all. 

 

.. Although you haven't really suggested the different potential criteria.-So for me here, this would be more where considering its main benefits, e.g. precip., water-storage, and more to agriculture, other business, wild life both plant and animal, more generally.

 

More personally, I'd like to see some more both rain, and snow. ... For both my gardening efforts here where I am more south, and then otherwise the possibility of perhaps some skiing, more north. Things main "water" wise, are at "just enough" where looked at more over-all I'd say, here more south and south of where I am.

[Guest happ]

December was the only winter month w/ slightly below normal maximums & nearly 5 inches of rain.  January and now February are dry and though I did record over an inch in Jan, some areas recieved no rainfall.  Last winter was way too warm and dry [Jan 2014: mean: 66.3°].  I think this month will be warmer than last Feb [mean: 62.9 / norm: 61°. 

 

If today doesn't get above 69F [current temp] then it will be only the 2nd day below 70 since late last month.

 

California is going into desperate times with next to nothing of a snow pack

 

Current rainyear [jul-jun]: 7.09

Last year at this date: 4.82

[BLI snowman]

F.

 

No measurable snowfall. Even the godawful 2012-13 had about 0.3" of total snow accumulation, so we're in the running for the lowest snow total since 1982-83 in the Bellingham area. DJF looks primed and ready to be our warmest on record. 

 

2nd major fail in three years here. Good things must be coming later in the decade....

[Bham_Guy]

I have mixed feelings about this winter. Normally, I would just give it the F it deserves for the lack of snow. However, with so many sunny days and a few solid windstorms I would give this winter an overall grade of D+. Also, the late November cold snap was close to being decent. BLI did pull off a sub-freezing high with that event.

[Dan the Weatherman]

December and early January were wet in Socal, but from mid January onward we have been bone dry. December gets an A for rainfall, but the heart of winter to date (January - March) gets an F due to the lack of storms. The entire wet season in the Sierra so far gets an F- for the utter lack of snow.

[bainbridgekid]

From an interesting weather perspective, I'd give it an F+. There's just been remarkably little weather to even track and that has made this the Winter I spent the least amount of time on weather since I was about 14.

 

Only things keeping it from a full F is that it snowed a half inch and stuck around a while in late November/early December and the fact that my expectations were very low being my first Winter in the U-District after 4 in Bellingham.

 

From a pleasant weather perspective though, I'd give this Winter a C+. It really has been nice having so many dry / comfortable days once you get over how boring it is and the lack of mountain snow.

[Abbotsford_wx]

November: C-

The only thing stopping this from being a "D" is the cold snap at the end of the month. Even then, we didn't get the snow that areas to the south and west did. Overall, the month was average for temperature and below average for snowfall.

 

From a pleasant weather standpoint, it probably gets an "A" for the 10-day stretch of sunny and dry weather in the middle.

 

December: D-

Dreadful. No snow at all and several degrees warmer than normal. It would be an "F" if not for the cold-ish weather bookending the month. There were a couple of decent wind storms, but it was very mundane otherwise. It's very telling that the most interesting aspect of the month was the record warm highs on the 9th and 10th.

 

From a pleasant weather standpoint, a "C+" or a "B". There were about seven days that had more sun than cloud.

 

January: D

Almost as bad as December. Aside from the 1" snowfall on the 4th, it's pretty much a carbon copy.

 

February: F

This isn't February. It's April.

 

 

Will update at the end of March with a final grade.

[snow_wizard]

Horrible. Without question the warmest on record for the Western lowlands. Late Nov / early Dec was ok here, but since then. F-

[Front Ranger]

Incomplete.

[Deweydog]

42. It had a good beat and was easy to dance to.

[Phil]

Not NW based, but hope I can have a go.

 

Overall so far: B

 

November: B..a few good winter storms with temps falling into the single digits on numerous occasions. Arctic air was centered west, though..

 

December: D..a warmth month with nearly constant cloud cover and freezing drizzle..days that were sunny really blowtorched. The big LLJ windstorm (80mph gusts on ridges above 2500ft) saved this month from being an F, IMO..

 

January: B..decent Arctic shot early in the month, active clipper track. Temps frequently hovered around the zero degree mark, but the big snows missed to the north..

 

February: A..very cold month, temps bottoming out at or below -15F on numerous occasions..big windstorm/ground blizzard occurred mid month during the 1st arctic blast..lots of snow.

 

March: TBD?

[Guest happ]

Not NW based, but hope I can have a go.

 

Overall so far: B

 

November: B..a few good winter storms with temps falling into the single digits on numerous occasions. Arctic air was centered west, though..

 

December: D..a warmth month with nearly constant cloud cover and freezing drizzle..days that were sunny really blowtorched. The big LLJ windstorm (80mph gusts on ridges above 2500ft) saved this month from being an F, IMO..

 

January: B..decent Arctic shot early in the month, active clipper track. Temps frequently hovered around the zero degree mark, but the big snows missed to the north..

 

February: A..very cold month, temps bottoming out at or below -15F on numerous occasions..big windstorm/ground blizzard occurred mid month during the 1st arctic blast..lots of snow.

 

March: TBD?

 

It's been such an extreme.  Many envy the snowfall in the Northeast; I would like to be living in Boston this winter.  Here it has been the opposite,  There's a good chance of higher elevation snow in the Southern Sierra currently but who knows how long the snowpack can be sustained if it stays warm or an atmospheric river sets up.  There have been some water gains in the state reservoirs from heavy rainfall in northern California earlier this month.    

[Front Ranger]

Incomplete.

 

This definitely has to apply to SLC as well, as we're talking about a place that can see 20"+ of snow in Mar/Apr.

[Black Hole]

This definitely has to apply to SLC as well, as we're talking about a place that can see 20"+ of snow in Mar/Apr.

The heart of winter is over, especially for all the lowlanders. You are right that both of us can see more snow (and probably will) but I feel like March onward is more spring than winter. But that's just my opinion.

[Front Ranger]

The heart of winter is over, especially for all the lowlanders. You are right that both of us can see more snow (and probably will) but I feel like March onward is more spring than winter. But that's just my opinion.

 

Hey, SLC's above normal streak ended today!

[HighlandExperience]

Horrible. Without question the warmest on record for the Western lowlands. Late Nov / early Dec was ok here, but since then. F-

 

Ditto the winter get an F hands down. The fact that we have seen zero snowfall in the lowlands combined with the lack of mountain snow makes this winter especially horrible. 

 

If we got slammed by a good storm in March the grade would improve. 

[luvssnow_spokane]

A big fat "F"... The lack of mountain snow and our prolonged above average temps in the low-lands is a huge factor for the mark. Truly a remarkable winter if you enjoy warm and dry though, so I assume for some it would be an A+. 

 

March is not winter for most but does not mean winter like weather cannot occur but it is kinda like warm melting ice-cream just not as good as  a November, to mid-February event. Just hoping to recover a little snow pack in the cascades.

[luminen]

B

 

Too many rainless cloudy days but the relatively high amount of sun has been nice. Mid-November was the most wintry feeling part of the winter.

[ShawniganLake]

F

 

Is there anything lower than an "F"?

 

The only thing memorable was a fairly impressive windstorm up here in November.

[ShawniganLake]

Incomplete.

How about now?  Complete enough yet? 

 

Probably not I guess, considering winter doesn't end in Denver until June some years. 

[Dan the Weatherman]

F

 

Is there anything lower than an "F"?

 

The only thing memorable was a fairly impressive windstorm up here in November.

 

Yeah, an F-.

[Guest happ]

Yeah, an F-.

 

Last year was an F since we have already exceeded last year's rain totals.  Maybe a F+

[Black Hole]

From the NWS SLC:

 

"February 2015 will go down in the record books as the warmest February on record at SLC since 1874. This winter (December 1 through Februrary 28th) is also the warmest winter on record for SLC. Finally, unless the Salt Lake City Airport receives 2.8 inches of snow before midnight (which looks quite unlikely), the winter of 2014-2015 will be the least snowy winter on record."

[Skagit Weather]

Usually I am pretty generous with my grading, but I don't see how this winter can receive a passing grade. Here, yes it did drop below 20F once and there was one day with an afternoon high below freezing. Yes there were a couple days with over an inch of rain and I did have a gust up to 40mph. However, this year it never felt like winter. I almost had more subfreezing lows in November (11) than December through February (14) and I am going to end up without half as many as average. I reached over 60F in every single "winter" month and my average high temperature was 49F or higher in every month while in January it usually hover 5 degrees or more cooler. The mountains received historically low snow totals and many stations up and down I-5 (yes, with the exception of Olympia) will have their warmest Dec-Feb period in their record books. Seattle had both the warmest Dec and Feb on record which is impressive even if the urban heat island effect has been working its magic. This winter was the least amount of snow I have seen here with 0.00", even worse than the 2009-10 total of 0.5".

 

If we were in a classroom, this winter would be the worst student ever to take the class. This year the only difference between winter and fall was the length of the days.

 

Final grade: F (25%)

[richard mann]

Winter's end more Meteorological discounted, .. Still a few weeks at least, remaining. 

 

Letter grade wise, some amount of improvement still possible. 

[Guest happ]

Winter's end more Meteorological discounted, .. Still a few weeks at least, remaining. 

 

Letter grade wise, some amount of improvement still possible. 

 

April can get some decent showers in years past though generally during active troughing [2010]. 

[Front Ranger]

How about now?  Complete enough yet? 

 

Probably not I guess, considering winter doesn't end in Denver until June some years. 

 

I can submit a complete grade by mid/late April most years.

 

Oct-Jan was a C-

 

An excellent Feb has raised that to a B.

[Canadian guy]

F....don't even need to explain my reasoning

[IbrChris]

This winter had some neat stuff...
 

• Earliest ZR event on record at PDX...snow in Gorge in first half of November. That was remarkable!
• Biggest windstorm since 1995 in December.
• Mini nocturnal T-storm outbreak in February across western Oregon...very rare in winter.
• Several record highs, including two days in 60s in January (rare). Warmest Feb on record at PDX and SLE.

While obviously the winter sucked from a snow/cold perspective, we did have interesting events occur. January was the month I'd probably rate lowest, perhaps a D, while Nov and Dec I'd give a B and Feb a C (tstorms were neat but brief). Overall I guess that equates to a C+ or thereabouts. Forgettable as a whole but some memorable events.

[halofromajo]

Ummm.  I'm giving this winter an F and expelling it from school.  Terrible all around.

[richard mann]

... "F" for "fallow". Move closer to water.