December 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[luvssnow_spokane]

Do you live in Tehaleh? If so how do they fare during snow events?

I do not live in Tehaleh, as I am about 5min from them. They around 850’ there and I am around 500’ here so they can actually see sticking snow when we have 500’-1000’ snow level... I have had no snow at my house and driven up there and they can have an inch or two.

 

It is a beautiful community but the house prices are way out of our league. We moved into our house about 12 years ago. Probably our last year here as we look to be moving over to Spokane by next fall/winter.

[HighlandExperience]

I do not live in Tehaleh, as I am about 10min from them. They around 850’ there and I am around 500’ here so they can actually see sticking snow when we do not when we have 500’-1000’ snow level events... I have had no snow at my house and driven up there and they can have an inch or two. It is a beautiful community but the house prices are way out of our league. We moved into our house about 12 years ago. Probably our last year here as we look to be moving over to Spokane by next fall/winter.

What are the good parts of Spokane? Thought of moving there as well. Just want to avoid the crime areas!

[luvssnow_spokane]

What are the good parts of Spokane? Thought of moving there as well. Just want to avoid the crime areas!

South hill is super nice if like old but restored homes, tree lined streets and being close to city life. The perry district is also up and coming, and out by liberty Lake area. I can send u more info later

[El_Nina]

We should start a contest for how many consecutive dry days we see in the beginning of January. I'm betting 10 days.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

It's been an amazing Christmas for my family but the best moment happened yesterday in fred meyer. I was in line and there was a younger couple in front of me that had there christmas gifts in the cart and the dad had a children's bicycle. When the total came up on the screen they didn't have enuff to pay for everything so they said they would return the bike. I pd for it. I've been in that mans shoes.. not fun. Made my Christmas.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

It's been an amazing Christmas for my family but the best moment happened yesterday in fred meyer. I was in line and there was a younger couple in front of me that had there christmas gifts in the cart and the dad had a children's bicycle. When the total came up on the screen they didn't have enuff to pay for everything so they said they would return the bike. I pd for it. I've been in that mans shoes.. not fun. Made my Christmas.

Things like this are what make the Christmas season amazing.

[Jbolin]

It's been an amazing Christmas for my family but the best moment happened yesterday in fred meyer. I was in line and there was a younger couple in front of me that had there christmas gifts in the cart and the dad had a children's bicycle. When the total came up on the screen they didn't have enuff to pay for everything so they said they would return the bike. I pd for it. I've been in that mans shoes.. not fun. Made my Christmas.

Good on you man. That's what Christmas is all about.

[Timmy]

It's been an amazing Christmas for my family but the best moment happened yesterday in fred meyer. I was in line and there was a younger couple in front of me that had there christmas gifts in the cart and the dad had a children's bicycle. When the total came up on the screen they didn't have enuff to pay for everything so they said they would return the bike. I pd for it. I've been in that mans shoes.. not fun. Made my Christmas.

#humblebrag that was very generous of you.

[Requiem]

You say that like it's a bad thing

It'll leave us with basically nothing, will it not?

[Frontal Snowsquall]

It's been an amazing Christmas for my family but the best moment happened yesterday in fred meyer. I was in line and there was a younger couple in front of me that had there christmas gifts in the cart and the dad had a children's bicycle. When the total came up on the screen they didn't have enuff to pay for everything so they said they would return the bike. I pd for it. I've been in that mans shoes.. not fun. Made my Christmas.

God bless you MR. SNOWMIZER. I could just see the joy on the child's face this morning.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Always exciting to know that our access to Arctic air continues to dwindle every year so missing out on a potential blast sadly feels like it will be all the more common. 

[ShawniganLake]

Always exciting to know that our access to Arctic air continues to dwindle every year so missing out on a potential blast sadly feels like it will be all the more common.

It’s just bad luck. I hear the climate is about to start cooling.

[ShawniganLake]

[Esquimalt]

My heart breaks for him

I can totally relate as someone who hates this climate with a passion but is forced to live here.  It's just hard seeing the cold go east time after time.  

[Front Ranger]

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30C spread at day 10.

[Requiem]

I can totally relate as someone who hates this climate with a passion but is forced to live here. It's just hard seeing the cold go east time after time.

 

I relate, it's incredibly irritating. Though it's so gratifying when we get events like 2/6/14, or 1/10/17, or of course the whole of December 2008. Windstorms on the other hand seem very difficult to get these days (at least in the W. Valley). I yearn for something like 12/12/95 or 1/16/00.

[crf450ish]

Let's not forget about March. I'm just throwing this out here.

 

There's nothing ruling out a perturbance in the atmosphere that could cause an early spring Arctic intrusion and snow event.... Much like late February- early March 1989.

 

I was barely out of diapers, but my folks drove my aunt to the hospital in Puyallup from Graham. They said the short drive was a nightmare. Snow stayed on the ground forever they said and temps dipped to the single digits for days on end. My family is sitting right here telling me this as I type this. Idk what it was like anywhere else around the sound, but in the far southern Puget Sound areas, it was epic.

[Guest Dome Buster]

Pretty sad you are talking about feb/march already.

[crf450ish]

Pretty sad you are talking about feb/march already.

Well, I'm not trying to be a Debbie downer or anything. But it seems like the optimism here is dwindling.

 

Although very unpopular, I place nearly all of my faith in the sun in regards to the climate and subsequent weather. It's not taught in University,but our sun is the driver of our climate. We are entering a grand solar minimum. It's only a matter of time before we see the effects of the feedback loop of a sleepy sun.

 

Most think I'm nuts. But history repeats itself. Time and Time again.

 

I'm only 31 years old. I'm 99.9% confident that within the next 20 years the pnw will experience winter weather the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1800's or prior....

 

 

Quite frankly, I'd love it if someone here with more education than I would chime in with their opinions regarding the sun driving our climate. I have been trying to find a definitive connection between low solar activity and subsequent changes in the Earths atmosphere. I cannot find any research on the matter. I must be looking in the wrong areas....

[Guest Dome Buster]

Lets just hold off and see how the next month unfolds. Even in this boring and el nino influenced december we still have a chance of some low elevation snowflakes in the air the next few days, without any real cold air to draw from. Stay optimistic. The guys in here for the most part are a glass half empty group.

[Esquimalt]

I relate, it's incredibly irritating. Though it's so gratifying when we get events like 2/6/14, or 1/10/17, or of course the whole of December 2008. Windstorms on the other hand seem very difficult to get these days (at least in the W. Valley). I yearn for something like 12/12/95 or 1/16/00.

Sure, but if you lived where Phil does, or elsewhere, you could get these events (maybe not as crazy as 1/16/00) at a much greater frequency. I get depressed here in the winter, because I care about the weather so much and it's disappointment after disappointment.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Sure, but if you lived where Phil does, or elsewhere, you could get these events (maybe not as crazy as 1/16/00) at a much greater frequency. I get depressed here in the winter, because I care about the weather so much and it's disappointment after disappointment.

Always feels like it was so much better when we were kids.

[crf450ish]

Lets just hold off and see how the next month unfolds. Even in this boring and el nino influenced december we still have a chance of some low elevation snowflakes in the air the next few days, without any real cold air to draw from. Stay optimistic. The guys in here for the most part are a glass half empty group.

I agree. I remember googling "western wa snowstorms" back in December 2008 and inadvertently stumbling upon this forum. I was amazed at the wealth of knowledge displayed in this forum. The optimistic attitude here during an epic event is contagious. It is what inspired me to become a weather geek. Although not formally educated, I have learned a ton simply from lurking and periodically posting here.

 

The pessimistic culture here is a direct result of not receiving what has been expected and yearned for, for so long. Kind of like an investor getting impatient and selling off stock that's not performing. I get it.

 

I'm willing to bet my life on the fact that some serious is going to happen within the next decade. Like to the tune of the massive Seattle snowstorm in January 1880....

[Esquimalt]

Always feels like it was so much better when we were kids.

I was born in '01...so I only have the records to look at to make me remember what it was once like lol.

[crf450ish]

I was born in '01...so I only have the records to look at to make me remember what it was once like lol.

D**n, you didn't get to live through the good 90's stuff...

[Esquimalt]

d**n, you didn't get to live through the good 90's stuff...

The winter when I was one was one of the worst ever recorded. A pretty bad start when u think about it lol.

[MossMan]

The winter when I was one was one of the worst ever recorded. A pretty bad start when u think about it lol.

1991-92?

[Phil]

Sure, but if you lived where Phil does, or elsewhere, you could get these events (maybe not as crazy as 1/16/00) at a much greater frequency.

Hmm..are you referring to snow? Because our snow climo sucks almost as badly as yours. Just for different reasons.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

The winter when I was one was one of the worst ever recorded. A pretty bad start when u think about it lol.

Basically the s valley dropped off a cliff in terms of regular snowstorms from Feb 1995-Dec 2003 when they had basically nothing during that stretch and it hasn’t recovered with events being way further apart than earlier. Before that, it snowed a lot more regularly. That’s pretty much the story here. Obv it’s different PDX north.

[Requiem]

Sure, but if you lived where Phil does, or elsewhere, you could get these events (maybe not as crazy as 1/16/00) at a much greater frequency. I get depressed here in the winter, because I care about the weather so much and it's disappointment after disappointment.

It's the same with snow. Go anywhere east and you'll find snow, wind, heavy rain, thunderstorms....

 

It's really depressing when one thinks about it /:

[Requiem]

Always feels like it was so much better when we were kids.

At least I've lived during a couple awe-inspiring events. 2/7/14, 12/20/2008, 1/10/17, and 12/11/14 come to mind. But apart from that I've never experienced something along the veins of a windstorm followed by an ice storm followed by heavy rain that the 90s gave.

[Phil]

The heat flux in the upper stratosphere looks to be record smashing w/ this event. Data runs back to 1978/79.

 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

[Front Ranger]

Basically the s valley dropped off a cliff in terms of regular snowstorms from Feb 1995-Dec 2003 when they had basically nothing during that stretch and it hasn’t recovered with events being way further apart than earlier. Before that, it snowed a lot more regularly. That’s pretty much the story here. Obv it’s different PDX north.

 

I'm just not sure you have a completely accurate picture here. EUG didn't see a winter with 10"+ from 1973-1993. Much of the south valley has seen two 10"+ winters in the past 5 years.

[MossMan]

For the last 10yrs we have walked next door to our neighbors and good friends place on Christmas morning so all the kids can open some presents together...anyway last year we were both at 280’ and was a flat walk over but we both moved north in the spring (a small Miracle that it worked out that way) and now the walk includes a nearly 200’ climb up to their place. We are at 500’ and they are at 700’ and they have one heck of a view. Hopefully if I don’t have sticking snow I could just walk to their place if the snow level is on the borderline.

 

Now we are heading to Kirkland for Christmas #3!

[TigerWoodsLibido]

I'm just not sure you have a completely accurate picture here. EUG didn't see a winter with 10"+ from 1973-1993. Much of the south valley has seen two 10"+ winters in the past 5 years.

I’m not talking about 10” winters. I’m talking about even an inch of snow. Feels like any snow at all, even just flakes in the air, just doesn’t occur as often as it used to when I was younger. 2 solid years in the midst of years where there was nothing. We usually at least see flakes in the air in any given year.

[AbbyJr]

Well, I’m saying there’s high potential. These SSW events are notorious for flummoxing the models at the very last minute and sending cold where it isn’t “supposed” to go.

 

See last Feb. Phase-8 MJO when the SSW and western cold occurred. Often times the MJO/NAM/wavetrain relationship gets all f**ked up when a SSW occurs, as you’re literally tearing down and rebuilding the communicative conduits between the tropics and extratropics.

 

You can get massive changes in the modeled solutions within 5 days. And it can happen in the blink of an eye across all guidance at once.

 

High potential for an arctic blast into the PNW and that the models could easily do a major flip towards that suddenly?

[Esquimalt]

1991-92?

2002-2003

[TigerWoodsLibido]

2002-2003

 

14-15 

[Esquimalt]

14-15

18-19