August 2022 PNW Observations and Discussion - 1956 Redux!1!!1!

[Doinko]

7 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

Snow totals weren't that much in my area but the wind was really strong, gusts over 40mph according to some old WRF-GFS runs at least. Had a few inches at least from the first wave which was all snow thankfully but the big dumping of precip was mostly a mix. I think the most impressive part of the storm were the ice accumulations around Oregon City and West Linn areas, some areas saw nearly 2" of ice. Hoping I can avoid sleet/ice in the next storms though.

Even though Jan 2017 was extremely windy from the east, we still got 12-13" of snow. There were large drifts even in undercover parts of my backyard. I guess my area got lucky with the bands of precip that happened that night.

Here's a photo from Jan 2017. The table in the bottom left is actually fully undercover, the wind just blew the snow on top of it. 

[Timmy Supercell]

2 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

20-21 was a weak winter for Klamath. My top snows each month below.

12/11 - 3.3" (Dec: 4.4")
1/8 - 2.9" (Jan: 3.5")
2/18 - 3.3" (Feb: 7.1")
3/15 - 2.0" (Mar: 3.3")

At least it snowed more frequently than 13-14 though. So it wasn't a demonically dry one.
 

If you include traces and wet snows, that winter actually had quite a high number of days snow fell. 

[snow_wizard]

Actually a touch cooler than yesterday.  Pretty enjoyable run of weather we are in.

[snow_wizard]

16 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

Here's a photo from Jan 2017. The table in the bottom left is actually fully undercover, the wind just blew the snow on top of it. 

Good quality snow!  That one showed Jan can still get cold.

[Doinko]

1 minute ago, snow_wizard said:

Good quality snow!  That one showed Jan can still get cold.

We had 0.5" of snow on the 1st, another half inch on the 7th/8th, and then that big storm on the 10th/11th. What made the snow really enjoyable though was how long it lasted. It was there for a week and there were still small piles around for even longer! If only the snow was more regionwide that month though. Glad the Seattle area scored in Feb 2019 though.

[snow_wizard]

43 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Feb 2021 was an awesome nugget of a snow event here. Feb 2019 may have been a juggernaut in total, but Feb 2021 still holds the record for largest individual snowstorm at my place. Kind of got insane at times, and we were even in the east wind shaft zone a bit.

That event certainly saved that winter from being a total turd.  The main snow event got kind of ruined by the east winds here, but ironically the same easterly gradient caused an Arctic front to get hung up here, which gave me a couple of inches with temps below freezing on the same day most places rapidly warmed up.

[Meatyorologist]

9 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

That event certainly saved that winter from being a total turd.  The main snow event got kind of ruined by the east winds here, but ironically the same easterly gradient caused an Arctic front to get hung up here, which gave me a couple of inches with temps below freezing on the same day most places rapidly warmed up.

Had a really interesting LLJ-related near svr gust front in early Jan that winter. Also the anafrontal snowstorm/flooding event on the solstice. Otherwise pretty boring overall.

[Doinko]

Just now, Meatyorologist said:

Had a really interesting LLJ-related near svr gust front in early Jan that winter. Also the anafrontal snowstorm/flooding event on the solstice. Otherwise pretty boring overall.

I think that's the one when apparently 94k PGE customers lost power here. Down here we did have a minor snow event in late Jan (some places in the west valley got a few inches) but that was it mostly.

[Meatyorologist]

76/56 the preliminary spread at KSEA; pretty dead on average for this time of year.

[Requiem]

As far as snow goes-- nothing can top 1/10/17. 20 inches of heavy, powdery snow in about 12 hours? Pretty extraordinary for this region 

[Jbolin]

1 hour ago, Meatyorologist said:

Had a really interesting LLJ-related near svr gust front in early Jan that winter. Also the anafrontal snowstorm/flooding event on the solstice. Otherwise pretty boring overall.

Was that the event that knocked out power for over 200K in in W. Wa in just a little over 5 hours?

[Anti Marine Layer]

Looks like a deep marine layer up there, but nevertheless Portland still reached 81.

[NWbyNW]

WILDFIRE UPDATE

NEW Known Wildfires started today! 8/12/22  

Washington - 9 (9 new fires in the state most caused by lightning in the NE corner of the state.  Firefighters have made impressive progress at taking out dozens of new fires and surpassing fast moving fires.  There are five large fires in the state, down from six. The total drop from 54 fires to 49.) Total: 49

Oregon - 1 (Shockingly only one new fire and crews are doing an amazing job at cleaning up fires, imaged below are all the recent fires they have put out in gray and black.  There are still three large fires in the state; the Miller Road Fire, Cedar Creek Fire, and Windigo Fire. The total of fires drops from 50 to 52.) Total: 52

Idaho - 5 (Five new fires in the state all caused from lightning.  Just to the west of the Idaho panhandle in Montana, lighting caused dozens of new fires.  There are four large fires burning in the state. Evacuations have been ordered to homes in threat from the Ross Creek Fire north of Pocatello. The total number fires grows from 9 to 16.) Total: 16

British Columbia - 74 (Things keep getting worse in BC as lightning and other ignitors have started over 74 new fires across the province.  The majority are in the Kamloops and Southeast district.  The number of large fires in the province increases by one to seven now.  The new large fire entering the fray is the Hasler Flats fire located in the remote Prince George district and in a remote location with the closest minor town being Chetwynd. Other major fires are the Keremeos Creek Fire which has burned since last month.  Resident of the community of Ollala were just allowed to return home after evacuations yesterday.  It still threatens the town of Keremeos and Cawston, but fuels for the Keremeos Creek Fire seem to be less and . Another is the Maria Creek Fire, The Briggs Creek Fire next to Kaslo, The Connell Ridge Fire, The Cummings Creek Fire, and the Weasel Creek Fire. The total amount of fires in the province increases from 84 to 118, the highest so far this year.) Total: 118

Who Has had The Most Amount of Fires (Ranked by days in which they've had the most fires, only counting days we've kept track here.)

1. British Columbia - 18 days with the most wildfires

2. Oregon - 2 days with the most wildfires.

SMOKE UPDATE

Onshore winds are pushing smoke eastward and have really helped clear out most of the region.  All areas are seeing good quality and good visibility except for some valleys in the British Columbia interior, and the continued moderate to unhealthy air in Grants Pass, Medford, and Klamath Falls, all due to California wildfire smoke. Bend, Oregon is also seeing moderate air quality due to smoke. By Saturday, most of the smoke will be well east of Washington, Oregon, lower mainland BC and making it's way east over Idaho and Montana.  Medford might get some relief by Sunday if winds do indeed shift south and blow smoke towards California's Inland Empire.

 

Oregon crews have taken out many fires recently, note the black and gray icons.

A British Columbia crane unit for a fire department burned the other day due to the wildfires, thankfully no crew was injured and got away.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

27 minutes ago, Requiem said:

As far as snow goes-- nothing can top 1/10/17. 20 inches of heavy, powdery snow in about 12 hours? Pretty extraordinary for this region 

Most of us have had something incredible in the last 10 years so I'm grateful for that.

[TacomaWx]

75/56 here down to 73 now. 

[NWbyNW]

Nice day.  We hit 75F, currently 74F.  Strangely my station is the warm spot of all the stations located around me this time.  Others are in the low 70s with one being 69F.... nice. 

The forecast looks like our temps are going to bump up a few degrees and start getting hot.  Luckily not too horrible... even if I can't get the temperature below 81F inside.... 

[T-Town]

December 2021 was pretty fun here too. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Just now, T-Town said:

December 2021 was pretty fun here too. 

IMG_5764.MOV

Boxing Day snowstorm here. 10" in total over 3 nights. Snow showers off and on all day in onshore flow. Was an incredible airmass.

[TacomaWx]

1 minute ago, T-Town said:

December 2021 was pretty fun here too. 

I still regret being out of town for that one. Was here for all the other big events in recent years though so It’s alright

[T-Town]

1 minute ago, TacomaWx said:

I still regret being out of town for that one. Was here for all the other big events in recent years though so It’s alright

Yeah, and I count on you for accurate Tacoma snow totals. Please don’t let it happen again!

[TT-SEA]

78 at SEA and 82 in North Bend today.

[Omegaraptor]

3 hours ago, Timmy Supercell said:

20-21 was a weak winter for Klamath. My top snows each month below.

12/11 - 3.3" (Dec: 4.4")
1/8 - 2.9" (Jan: 3.5")
2/18 - 3.3" (Feb: 7.1")
3/15 - 2.0" (Mar: 3.3")

At least it snowed more frequently than 13-14 though. So it wasn't a demonically dry one.
 

Not exactly what you’d expect from a Niña/+QBO winter. First half of January was actually a pretty nasty torch for Portland. I think PDX averaged warmer than SAC and Napa for the first half of January, lol.

[Kayla]

Hello old friend.

[Meatyorologist]

1 minute ago, Kayla said:

Hello old friend.

The 540dm AND the 534dm contour!

[Kayla]

4 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

The 540dm AND the 534dm contour!

Seasons are a changing!!

[Winterdog]

Another beautiful day.  80/51 currently 74, that hemlock is not doing well at all.

[MossMan]

44 minutes ago, Winterdog said:

Another beautiful day.  80/51 currently 74, that hemlock is not doing well at all.

Hi neighbor! Hope you have been enjoying the summer months! 

[Blizzard777]

Storms hung with me most the day as I traveled 89 northbound.  Just missed having to cross through and area of road that was flash flooding.   While I was shooting the hay bails a cop went wizzing past me, I knew something was up.  Glad they didn’t shut it down. Would of been a long detour.  Had to sit around 30 minutes while they got the debris off road. Cool moment for me though

[Timmy Supercell]

A few late reports being added to yesterday's storms.

[Timmy Supercell]

5 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

A few late reports being added to yesterday's storms.

The last 2.5" or larger hail in Oregon was in 1998. I could have sworn there was one sooner than that, could be Idaho I'm recalling. 

[Winterdog]

12 minutes ago, MossMan said:

Hi neighbor! Hope you have been enjoying the summer months! 

Hi Randy, yes indeed, I have been enjoying the warm dry weather when the humidity is reasonable.  I used to enjoy the very hot weather like you, but age has tempered that a bit.  Looking forward to some snow and I think it will be early this year. 

[T-Town]

15 minutes ago, Jginmartini said:

Storms hung with me most the day as I traveled 89 northbound.  Just missed having to cross through and area of road that was flash flooding.   While I was shooting the hay bails a cop went wizzing past me, I knew something was up.  Glad they didn’t shut it down. Would of been a long detour.  Had to sit around 30 minutes while they got the debris off road. Cool moment for me though

The hay roll shot is amazing. Where is that?

[Doinko]

Wow... in April 1968, the Bethany COOP station recorded a temp of 23 degrees on the 13th! PDX also recorded a freeze but only got down to 30 degrees. Hillsboro dropped to 26 that day. Looks like a cold month, an avg temp of 47 degrees, but not too wet, only 2.37" of precip. There was also a frost in early May. The station did have a 91/49 day and a 93/56 day in late June too.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/coop/coop.html?_page=2&state=OR&foreign=false&stationID=356747&_target3=Next+>

[Doinko]

4 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

The last 2.5" or larger hail in Oregon was in 1998. I could have sworn there was one sooner than that, could be Idaho I'm recalling. 

4" hail in July 1995!

[Doinko]

2 minutes ago, Doiinko said:

Wow... in April 1968, the Bethany COOP station recorded a temp of 23 degrees on the 13th! PDX also recorded a freeze but only got down to 30 degrees. Hillsboro dropped to 26 that day. Looks like a cold month, an avg temp of 47 degrees, but not too wet, only 2.37" of precip. There was also a frost in early May. The station did have a 91/49 day and a 93/56 day in late June too.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/coop/coop.html?_page=2&state=OR&foreign=false&stationID=356747&_target3=Next+>

July was warm though, 10 days above 90 degrees

[Timmy Supercell]

1 minute ago, Doiinko said:

4" hail in July 1995!

The watermelon crop was lost to that. On another written report about that supercell, it did 50 million dollars in damages to property, vehicles and crops combined. 

[Blizzard777]

1 minute ago, T-Town said:

The hay roll shot is amazing. Where is that?

About 15 miles south of Richfield Utah.  Got lucky with the storms in the background.  Meanwhile on the other side of the road it looks like summer! Also a curious cow watching me…lol, he sort of goes with the 4Runner as well

[Doinko]

5 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

The watermelon crop was lost to that. On another written report about that supercell, it did 50 million dollars in damages to property, vehicles and crops combined. 

That must've been a crazy storm to experience. 50 million dollars in damages, wow.

[Doinko]

Found this interesting writeup (Station was near Sylvan):
 

[MossMan]

9 minutes ago, Jginmartini said:

About 15 miles south of Richfield Utah.  Got lucky with the storms in the background.  Meanwhile on the other side of the road it looks like summer! Also a curious cow watching me…lol, he sort of goes with the 4Runner as well

Representing Tacoma from all over the western US!