January 2017 Stats in Oregon

[Doinko]

Something that surprised me looking back was how cold January 2017 was, especially the first part of the month. I knew it was cold, but some of the stats surprised me, so I decided to take a look at some at different stations.
Here are some highlights:
 

The first 15 days of the month were:

• The 2nd Coldest in Portland (28.7) after 1979 (27.8)
• The 3rd Coldest in Silverton (29.3) after 1973 (28.1) and 1979 (27.2)
• The 2nd Coldest in Stayton (29.7) after 1979 (28.9)
• The 4th Coldest in Hood River (18.5) after 1979 (16.9), 1974 (16.0), 1909 (14.6) 
• The 5th Coldest in Bend (15.9) after 1916 (15.3), 1937 (15.2), 1974 (14.7), 1993 (13.9)
• The 3rd Coldest in Redmond (13.1) after 1993 (11.9), 1979 (11.5)
• The Coldest at Santiam Junction near Sisters (19.3)
• The 2nd Coldest in Seneca (9.0) after 1974 (8.4)
• The 2nd Coldest in La Grande (16.2) after 1974 (14.9)
• The 4th Coldest in Madras (13.7) after 1942 (12.3), 1979 (11.1), 1937 (10.8)
• The 4th Coldest in Ontario (15.0) after 2013 (13.9), 1977 (13.9), 1949 (6.3)
• The 2nd Coldest in Silver Creek Falls (26.8) after 1949 (24.5)
• The 2nd Coldest in Wallowa (4.8) after 1949 (2.3)

And as a state, the first 15 days in January 2017 were the 4th Coldest (22.2), after 1974 (21.3), 1949 (19.0), and 1937 (18.0).

Additionally, some stations had some long streaks of highs below freezing:

• Hood River tied for their 2nd Longest streak staying below freezing, with 17 days from 01/02 to 01/18 (Tied with Jan 1957: 17 behind Jan 1930: 23)
• The Dalles had their 4th Longest streak staying below freezing, with 16 days from 01/04 to 01/19 (behind Jan 1930: 20, Jan 1937: 21, Dec-Jan 1985: 21)

While most of our recent Januarys have not been good, January 2017 was a pretty good month in terms of cold (and snow in some places)!

[BLI snowman]

It was very legit in terms of how it stacked up for duration. Expanding it even further, the December 5-January 17 period was the 2nd coldest on record for PDX behind 1978-79 and averaged an impressive and old school 33.0 there for that stretch. Just very sustained cold in the tradition of our classic cold years, albeit with no extreme upper level airmasses. We managed the rare combo of persistent, sustained cold offshore flow and healthy gorge/eastside snowcover the whole way through, which kept things refueling throughout the season.

It will likely be a long time to come before we see another winter like that one for consistent cold.

[Doinko]

11 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

It was very legit in terms of how it stacked up for duration. Expanding it even further, the December 5-January 17 period was the 2nd coldest on record for PDX behind 1978-79 and averaged an impressive and old school 33.0 there for that stretch. Just very sustained cold in the tradition of our classic cold years, albeit with no extreme upper level airmasses. We managed the rare combo of persistent, sustained cold offshore flow and healthy gorge/eastside snowcover the whole way through, which kept things refueling throughout the season.

It will likely be a long time to come before we see another winter like that one for consistent cold.

I think in my area it was probably also the 2nd snowiest after 2008-09. Overall a really great winter especially after the disappointing winters before.

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

That Silver Falls stat is not surprising. It was legitimately cold, pretty much our only day well above freezing the first half of the month was the day PDX had the big snow event. The first week of the month was legitimate cold too, I think silver falls had a 25/13 day on the 4th. We had very strong offshore wind too as that low went into southern Oregon. Blew all the snow off the roof. 

[Black Hole]

That was a great stretch for Utah as well. I recall it started off with a 10" storm at the end of December with several good events through the first 2/3 of Dec. I got 13" on Christmas and then another 13" in early January. By the middle of January I could barely shovel snow off the driveway anymore the drifts were so high. I ended up with 95" that season, my highest of all my years in Utah, with something like 50" of that in a 3 week stretch.  

[snow_wizard]

On 8/17/2022 at 9:41 PM, Doiinko said:

 

While most of our recent Januarys have not been good, January 2017 was a pretty good month in terms of cold (and snow in some places)!

Not sure why it was such an outlier from most Januarys since 1980.  The Pacific has been mostly unstoppable in that month lately.  

[Doinko]

16 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Not sure why it was such an outlier from most Januarys since 1980.  The Pacific has been mostly unstoppable in that month lately.  

I hope the next good January can also work out for most of Western WA too. Portland was 33.5 for 2017 while SeaTac averaged 37.9 and only dropped to 20 that month. 

How widespread was the snow in early Jan in SeaTac? I think I've heard it was a localized event but I'm not sure.