June 2022 - Summer Begins

[snow drift]

3 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

Cold January!

That winter was a fascinating case study in the basic timeline of our inversion season in the PNW. Check out Pendleton's temps that winter. It was thoroughly ridgy basically the whole way through. But the cold/foggy ridging turned on a dime in the 2nd week of February and never looked back, flipping literally overnight to warm/sunny ridging on the 9th of February.

This year was kind of similar. January was a classic inversion. In February it broke due to the higher February sun angle. After that it was intensely sunny. I can't recall a sunnier February. February is normally one of our gloomier months.

[TT-SEA]

8 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

Nws Portland AFD mentioned a decent chance for thunderstorms on Sunday

Guessing the lack of low and mid level clouds being shown by the ECMWF is going to assist with convection on Sunday.

[snow drift]

2 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

I've heard of a snow event in late December 2009 that seems to have been a big bust, did the models not catch on or was it something to do with the forecasting?

I recall Portland having a nice little surprise snow event in December 2009. It caught many of the forecasters by surprise.

[TT-SEA]

4 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Because it interrupted the ENSO cycle and led to a Nina?    Maybe so.   

But even a Nina does not mean rain this persistent here.   To be fair... this is based on the assumption that it will rain almost every day for the next 2 weeks which is what the ECMWF and EPS are showing.    That would be a 2.5 month stretch (75 days) with rain almost every day here and that is exceedingly rare even in the fall and winter.    If we get a week of dry weather coming up then it paints a different and more typical Nina picture in which there are some meaningful dry periods even though its wet overall.   I just don't see that happening.

This was the original post that got a few people started about feelings.    Which are of course irrelevant to statistics.   I am going to move all subsequent posts related to this over to the preference thread.   My post above had nothing to do with preferences and I stand by the information.  

[snow drift]

PDX picked up 2.5 inches of snow on 12/29/2009. Good stuff.

[Deweydog]

12 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

I've heard of a snow event in late December 2009 that seems to have been a big bust, did the models not catch on or was it something to do with the forecasting?

It was a pretty borderline setup for a transition event which was oversold by the NWS. Led to them being gun shy late in the month and what turned into cArmageddon.

[Doinko]

3 minutes ago, snow drift said:

PDX picked up 2.5 inches of snow on 12/29/2009. Good stuff.

Just found this: https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/paststorms/20091229/dec2009_snowpns.txt

Some places like Hillsboro had 5 inches apparently! 

[Kayla]

Incoming! Decent chance I get hit by my second severe warned storm of the season with this one.

[snow drift]

5 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

Just found this: https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/paststorms/20091229/dec2009_snowpns.txt

Some places like Hillsboro had 5 inches apparently! 

I remember the Portland NWS issued a WSW for parts of the area. I saw it on the news.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

54 minutes ago, MV_snow said:

I think overall, everyone on this forum would be happier if all the WA posters moved to OR and vise versa. Especially with the N/S gradient we’ve seen in recent years. There are some exceptions of course; while some WA posters like troughy patterns in the spring and summer, I think every single OR poster likes troughy patterns.

Overall the N/S gradient has been extremely embellished. 

[snow drift]

1 minute ago, Kayla said:

Incoming! Decent chance I get hit by my second severe warned storm of the season with this one.

Score

[NWbyNW]

I was rudely awaken before my alarm clock this morning.  At 6:33am I heard a loud bang/crash and was awaken.  For a second I wondered what had happened, then I heard some rumbling and more thunderous booms!  I was awoken by thunder!  Wow!  I opened the blinds and reached for my camera.  It was pouring down rain and nature made her own alarm clark.

I don't think I've ever been woken up by thunder.  Very cool, especially to have thunder twice in less than 48hrs.  I stayed awake and listened and watched the rain before getting ready for the day.

 

As of 2:15pm, it is still raining heavily, though at times it slows to a sprinkle.  Currently 57F, and after about 7:10am, the thunder had ceased.  Very cool 48hrs!  

Here is some photos of the wet stuff from 6:33am this morning and one from a minute ago.  It's like a shallow pool of water everywhere!  Big droplets!  

 

 

[TT-SEA]

Just now, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Overall the N/S gradient has been extremely embellished. 

There is the basic issue of latitude as well and not just departures from normal.  Western Oregon is sunnier and warmer in the summer normally thanks to latitude.

[BLI snowman]

27 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

I've heard of a snow event in late December 2009 that seems to have been a big bust, did the models not catch on or was it something to do with the forecasting?

That was a classic gorge fueled event. All rain from Salem-south and Longview-north, but we had just enough depth with a little cold pool to stay snow for the PDX metro. It was an overrunning event that occurred on the back end of a little inversion during the heart of the season.

[snow drift]

2 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

That was a classic gorge fueled event. All rain from Salem-south and Longview-north, but we had just enough depth with a little cold pool to stay snow for the PDX metro. It was an overrunning event that occurred on the back end of a little inversion during the heart of the season.

Sent you some high octane cold via the KGEG-PDX express.

[BLI snowman]

2 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

There is the basic issue of latitude as well and not just departures from normal.  Western Oregon is sunnier and warmer in the summer normally thanks to latitude.

 Western WA is also normally very sunny and warm away from the water during the warm season. There's not a big difference and larger scale meridional flow only occasionally produces a pronounced impact.

The main difference is that the population centers in western WA are just more maritime in general and very impacted by their proximity to the Sound, whereas the population centers in western OR are more continental and away from large bodies of water. The weather patterns however are virtually identical across the two states in the summer.

[Doinko]

I also had a really localized snow event on 12/13/21, heavy rain turned to heavy snow and gave me a quick inch, and everything froze later on in the night. 

[BLI snowman]

2 minutes ago, snow drift said:

Sent you some high octane cold via the KGEG-PDX express.

We thank you. Since immediately following, that winter flipped to Nino split flow death, and they had to pump in artificial snow during the Vancouver Olympics while Phil's driveway turned into a Black Diamond ski run  

[snow drift]

Severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Lewiston. A flash flood warning has been issued for the area just north of Grand Coulee Dam.

[Deweydog]

1 minute ago, Doiinko said:

I also had a really localized snow event on 12/13/21, heavy rain turned to heavy snow and gave me a quick inch, and everything froze later on in the night. 

We picked up a couple inches with that. Classic anafront/isothermal setup. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

1 minute ago, TT-SEA said:

There is the basic issue of latitude as well and not just departures from normal.  Western Oregon is sunnier and warmer in the summer normally thanks to latitude.

Yes, I agree with this. 

[snow drift]

1 minute ago, BLI snowman said:

We thank you. Since immediately following, that winter flipped to Nino split flow death, and they had to pump in artificial snow during the Vancouver Olympics while Phil's driveway turned into a Black Diamond ski run  

It reached 32@KGEG on the 29th. It was pretty marginal. January was a split flow fiesta.🌶🏜 ¡Ole!

[Doinko]

2 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

We picked up a couple inches with that. Classic anafront/isothermal setup. 

I think something similar happened on the 18th/19th, but I wasn't home for that one.

[Deweydog]

1 minute ago, Doiinko said:

I think something similar happened on the 18th/19th, but I wasn't home for that one.

That might be the one I was thinking of. I had Covid at the time so it all blends together.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

5 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

 Western WA is also normally very sunny and warm away from the water during the warm season. There's not a big difference and larger scale meridional flow only occasionally produces a pronounced impact.

The main difference is that the population centers in western WA are just more maritime in general and very impacted by their proximity to the Sound, whereas the population centers in western OR are more continental and away from large bodies of water. The weather patterns however are virtually identical across the two states in the summer.

Good point. I agree with this too. 

 

[Doinko]

Weather.com was taunting me then. Why couldn't this have happened here

[snow drift]

We had two tornadoes spawn from a thunderstorm in early May. The storm was rather vanilla. It featured a few rumbles of thunder and some rain. The two tornadoes caught everyone by surprise, but they were only little guys. They were both rated at F0. They were so cute though. When they get bigger, they plan on moving to Kansas or Oklahoma.

[Timmy Supercell]

1 hour ago, Doiinko said:

I've heard of a snow event in late December 2009 that seems to have been a big bust, did the models not catch on or was it something to do with the forecasting?

It didn't bust where I was if you're talking 12/29/2009. Solid 3" in Hillsboro (by Tanasbourne) and think it even caused some rush hour traffic mess in Portland. Parents were nearly 2 hours late getting off work in that. It was the day before my birthday and we ended up microwaving tv dinners. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Timmy Supercell said:

It didn't bust where I was if you're talking 12/29/2009. Solid 3" in Hillsboro (by Tanasbourne) and think it even caused some rush hour traffic mess in Portland. Parents were nearly 2 hours late getting off work in that. It was the day before my birthday and we ended up microwaving tv dinners. 

I think they meant it busted in a positive direction. 

[Omegaraptor]

33 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

 Western WA is also normally very sunny and warm away from the water during the warm season. There's not a big difference and larger scale meridional flow only occasionally produces a pronounced impact.

The main difference is that the population centers in western WA are just more maritime in general and very impacted by their proximity to the Sound, whereas the population centers in western OR are more continental and away from large bodies of water. The weather patterns however are virtually identical across the two states in the summer.

Proximity to water does matter a lot. The Upper Skagit Valley has warmer summer high temps than Bellingham at the same latitude by a pretty decent margin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Dam#Climate

Likewise compare Eugene summers to Grants Pass / Medford summers. The Rogue Valley is significantly warmer (even despite higher elevation) which has a bit to do with latitude but geography explains it a bit better. While Eugene is separated from the ocean by the Coast Range the Rogue Valley is shadowed by the Siskiyous, a much higher mountain range creating a strong shadow effect more akin to the Cascades. In fact the Siskiyous SW of Ashland even have native growing sagebrush and the Scott Valley just across the state line is home to the westernmost native sagebrush in the country. 

[snow drift]

4 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

I think they meant it busted in a positive direction. 

I like busts in a positive direction.

[Doinko]

7 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

It didn't bust where I was if you're talking 12/29/2009. Solid 3" in Hillsboro (by Tanasbourne) and think it even caused some rush hour traffic mess in Portland. Parents were nearly 2 hours late getting off work in that. It was the day before my birthday and we ended up microwaving tv dinners. 

I meant busted in a positive way, but yeah it seems like it caused a lot of traffic issues. If you had 3 inches in Tanasbourne my location probably had a similar amount.

[Doinko]

2 minutes ago, snow drift said:

I like busts in a positive direction.

Much better than the other way around!

[Rubus Leucodermis]

1 hour ago, Doiinko said:

I just want <95° and some thunderstorms during the summer. Anything else is fine with me.

Leadville beckons.

[Timmy Supercell]

7 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

I meant busted in a positive way, but yeah it seems like it caused a lot of traffic issues. If you had 3 inches in Tanasbourne my location probably had a similar amount.

Gotcha! Yeah, it was an unusual start to a snow event. Was pouring good for a couple hours before switching to snow mid-afternoon. 

[snow drift]

I'm always amazed how tornadoes can find the lone trailer park in a mega metropolis of thousands of houses.🌪

[Doinko]

8 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

Gotcha! Yeah, it was an unusual start to a snow event. Was pouring good for a couple hours before switching to snow mid-afternoon. 

I was also curious, how much snow did you get in December 2008, since Tanasbourne is kind of near me?

[Timmy Supercell]

6 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

I was also curious, how much snow did you get in December 2008, since Tanasbourne is kind of near me?

Total snowfall was hard to keep track of (north of 20 inches!) but my depth was 9" I measured. Some melted between storms. I think Christmas Day snow was more on the wet side. 

[Timmy Supercell]

9 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

I was also curious, how much snow did you get in December 2008, since Tanasbourne is kind of near me?

I lived in Landmark Apartments from 2004-2010. For exact location. 

[Doinko]

1 minute ago, Timmy Supercell said:

Total snowfall was hard to keep track of (north of 20 inches!) but my depth was 9" I measured. Some melted between storms. I think Christmas Day snow was more on the wet side. 

20 inches+ is pretty crazy! The PQR office seems to have recorded around 19 so it looks like this location did a bit better. Surprisingly I had a higher snow depth on the morning of 1/11/17, but that was because a bunch of snow was dumped all at once so there was no time to melt.