April 2017 Observations and Model Discussion for the Pacific Northwest

[Kayla]

Wow... 98 mph gust in the SW hills. When is the last time that happen??!

 

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/timeseries.php?sid=D3557&table=1&banner=off

[Timmy Supercell]

So I see most everyone north of me ended up with winds higher than I did. I'm still getting winds but it's been like 45-55 last 24 hours or so.

 

Lots of damage photos on a facebook group this morning. 

[Phil]

Sounds truly miserable.

 

Snoqualmie Summit is in a mountain valley and its usually calm there even when its windy in Seattle. I have never skied in anything close to windy conditions there.

 

I can't imagine sitting on the lift in 40 mph winds.

Yeah, hard to beat skiing out west. The topography and snow quality is just so much better. Our mountains are small, so you have to maximize elevation...which means ski communities are built on the summits of the highest peaks, which are completely exposed for thousands of miles. Looking west from Snowshoe, it's the highest point until you reach Denver. Perfect recipe for high winds and rime icing, both of which degrade snow quality.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

135,000 PGE customers in the dark now. Region wide probably approaching 200k

[Kayla]

Gusting to 101 mph now in the SW Hills of Portland. Unreal.

[Phil]

It depends on how cold it is and visiblity but my limit is about 50-60mph before it's too much for me. Fortunately they just installed a new chair on the far lee side of the mountain so we can escape the high winds now if we really desire.

 

The worst was when I got caught in the onset of a blizzard down at Mammoth Mountain, CA. High up on the mountain with sustained 70mph winds blowing perpendicular to the chair. We got smashed into the lift tower a couple times but made it out safely.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah that doesn't sound fun at all. In my case I was riding the Silver Creek lift when an Arctic front blew in. Winds were parallel to the lift, but were well over hurricane force, so they kept throwing the chair backwards despite resistance from the cables, almost dumping me out of it multiple times. Plus they stopped the lift, so I had so hold on for dear life for 5+ minutes.

 

Haven't taken that lift since.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

145k pge customers without power now.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

12,000 without power in Eugene, 6,000 with Clark county public utilities.

[BLI snowman]

Probably 55ish gusts here so far.

[richard mann]

(.. cross-reference.)
 
http://theweatherforums.com/index.php/topic/1546-spring-2017-colder-air-mass-movement-and-distribution-projections/

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Salem has gusted to 60mph

[Timmy]

Gusting to 101 mph now in the SW Hills of Portland. Unreal.

That can't be right. It's fairly breezy and I have had maybe one 70mph gust here

[Front Ranger]

Sounds truly miserable.

 

Snoqualmie Summit is in a mountain valley and its usually calm there even when its windy in Seattle. I have never skied in anything close to windy conditions there.

 

I can't imagine sitting on the lift in 40 mph winds.

It's very common at the resorts here to have calm conditions at the base and then 30-40 mph winds near the top on the last lift.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

You can tell this storm hasn't effected Washington yet by the complete calm on this forum.

[TT-SEA]

You can tell this storm hasn't effected Washington yet by the complete calm on this forum.

 

Its coming... gusting to almost 50 mph at OLM now.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Its coming... gusting to almost 50 mph at OLM now.  

 

This is a big storm. Can't believe the outages with this. 

[BLI snowman]

You can tell this storm hasn't effected Washington yet by the complete calm on this forum.

 

Windstorms aren't really that interesting for the most part.

[FroYoBro]

Windstorms aren't really that interesting for the most part.

Today has been interesting to me. Tons of down branches and trees in Beaverton. A couple of gusts looked around 60 mph.

 

 

Power has been out all day at school. Pretty annoying for a research project that requires wi-fi.

[Front Ranger]

Windstorms aren't really that interesting for the most part.

Especially when you've downplayed them and they prove you wrong.

[Blizzard777]

Parents lost power in se Portland, my daughter power is out Lake Oswego!

Wind also starting to pick up here in Federal way. On storm alert now

[SilverFallsAndrew]

 

 

[BLI snowman]

Especially when you've downplayed them and they prove you wrong.

 

I actually said this storm had genuine potential for 55+ gusts yesterday, although often some of the major ASOS stations don't reflect that. No downplaying here. But the reality of 55-60mph gusts is generally less than thrilling.

[TT-SEA]

I actually said this storm had genuine potential for 55+ gusts yesterday, although often some of the major ASOS stations don't reflect that. No downplaying here. But the reality of 55-60mph gusts is generally less than thrilling.

 

Pretty remarkable for April.

[BLI snowman]

Pretty remarkable for April.

 

Strongest wind gust at PDX in April since the tornado in 1972.

 

I think the past few years have shown that our windstorm climo extends a bit further than some previously thought. We also had the late September storm in 2013 and the late August storm in 2015. Really only May, June, July, and most of August completely lack that potential.

[TT-SEA]

Strongest wind gust at PDX in April since the tornado in 1972.

 

I think the past few years have shown that our windstorm climo extends a bit further than some previously thought. We also had the late September storm in 2013 and the late August storm in 2015. Really only May, June, July, and most of August completely lack that potential.

 

Effect of a global warming?   More energy available? 

[Front Ranger]

[Front Ranger]

Effect of a global warming? More energy available?

Tornado and hurricane numbers don't support that theory to this point.

[BLI snowman]

Effect of a global warming?   More energy available? 

 

I don't see much growth in our windstorm data or climo over the years to suggest that the climate warming has had any effect. And if anything the cooler -PDO phase from 1945 to 1975 featured more frequent prolific wind events around the region than at points since.

[BLI snowman]

Friday also looks like the biggest wind event of the storm season for many places. Our first shot at 55+ gusts.

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely a surprise to see HIO and SLE hit 60+. Those airport stations are often on the lower side of some of the regional reports.

[Phil]

Effect of a global warming? More energy available?

That's not how it works.

[Phil]

Tornado and hurricane numbers don't support that theory to this point.

Spring cyclones generally grow stronger with a sharpening meridional temperature gradient during boreal winter/spring.

 

That's the primary large scale primer cyclogenesis, which acts to re-equilibrate the macroscale boundary state to some degree.

[Kayla]

That can't be right. It's fairly breezy and I have had maybe one 70mph gust here

 

The observing site is near Council Crest and has always been very accurate. Seems probable since even OMSI to the east and on the river reported a 76mph gust on their roof!

[DareDuck]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah that doesn't sound fun at all. In my case I was riding the Silver Creek lift when an Arctic front blew in. Winds were parallel to the lift, but were well over hurricane force, so they kept throwing the chair backwards despite resistance from the cables, almost dumping me out of it multiple times. Plus they stopped the lift, so I had so hold on for dear life for 5+ minutes.

 

Haven't taken that lift since.

Yea it can get pretty scary when the winds are blowing so strong head on that it almost feels like you're going to drop off the chair. Usually at that point I know to call it a day or ski elsewhere. Since I'm on the mountain all the time I also don't feel guilty about going up for an hour and then calling it if I don't like it.

[Jesse]

Sounds like a fairly historic April windstorm down that way. We have been mostly spared up here thus far. We will be taking the ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend later on though, hopefully no issues then.

[TT-SEA]

That's not how it works.

 

Just throwing out a possibilities for why our windstorm season has seemingly widened.   I have no idea.

[Jesse]

Just throwing out a possibilities for why our windstorm season has seemingly widened. I have no idea.

I don't think it has widened so much as we have had a few relatively recent events that better illustrate it's true breadth.

[TT-SEA]

I don't think it has widened so much as we have had a few relatively recent events that better illustrate it's true breadth.

 

OK... that makes sense.  

[ShawniganLake]

Sounds like a fairly historic April windstorm down that way. We have been mostly spared up here thus far. We will be taking the ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend later on though, hopefully no issues then.

BC ferries from Victoria to Vancouver are shut down for now. Just breezy here in Victoria so far, must be stronger on the Strait and the Tsawwassen side. Docking is problematic there in the wind.

[luvssnow_spokane]

Looks like we had a gust to 28 in Bonney Lake. Marginal at best.

[TT-SEA]

Looks like we had a gust to 28 in Bonney Lake. Marginal at best.

 

I as in Bellevue/Renton all day and it was just a little breezy... nothing too noticeable.