PNW December 2022 - Part II

[snow_wizard]

1 minute ago, BLI snowman said:

OT but Buffalo is indeed pretty gnarly right now

 

 

 

This has a little bit of an old time feel to it.  I guess these huge nationwide events can still happen.

[Chewbacca Defense]

Warming up to 27 but the ice is getting really thick, and starting to get some icicles on my back deck.

[Hawksfan2008]

Wild night. Power just came back on as the house dropped to 50°. Have the heat cranking now as ice continues to accumulate. 

[snow_wizard]

4 minutes ago, Tenochtitlan said:

I'd have to check to make sure, but I believe this was the coldest 4-day period, in terms of high temperatures, at BLI since December 1990 (slightly beating out last December and December 1996).

Even here yesterday was the coldest max I've recorded this century.  Probably the coldest since Dec 1990 or Feb 1989.

[Meatyorologist]

2 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

The wind is what knocked out the power for all of North Bend.   It went out around 10 p.m. before any precip had fallen.    It was absolutely roaring all night.    It was the constant sound of sleet pounding against the windows and roar of the wind in the background with no power.    Wind is basically calm now.    Hopefully that means the cold air supply from the east will be shut off here soon.    Or just wishful thinking.

Drove past North Bend around 6am, it was icy as all hell.

Shortly past the HW18/I90 junction as we bent around into the Snoqualmie River Valley we hit the easterlies. They came on all at once and dropped the temps from 27F to 17F almost instantly. Interestingly, they came along with a sudden onset of moderate sleet. Probably a reflection of how mitigated the boundary layer warming was being in the heart of the easterly outflow.

[TT-SEA]

2 minutes ago, Hawksfan2008 said:

Wild night. Power just came back on as the house dropped to 50°. Have the heat cranking now as ice continues to accumulate. 

Our house dropped to 63...  but we have 3 gas fireplaces that work without power just with no blower.    I also got it up to 75 in the house yesterday evening in anticipation of losing power to give us a little more cushion!

[RentonHill]

30.4 but lots of water falling from the sky. Let the dog out to poop and it was torturous watching him try to walk out there and find a spot he could dig his paws in and let it rip

[Snownerd3000]

Just took the garbage out and even where it looked mostly dry had a small sheen of ice. My kids want to go sledding and I don't feel comfortable having them go out there. So slippery. My son has a knack for breaking his arm so we'll play inside today. 

[jakerepp]

Just shy of an inch here today I think. Snow is probably basically done for the day. Looks pretty! Still just 22*

[Cloud]

BFI notched a -21.0 departure yesterday with a 25/16 spread. That easily had to be one of the coldest days recorded. 

[Hawksfan2008]

2 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Our house dropped to 63...  but we have 3 gas fireplaces that work without power just with no blower.    I also got it up to 75 in the house yesterday evening in anticipation of losing power to give us a little more cushion!

Smart man! I thought of bumping the heat but it was a little too late. Lesson learned. Glad you’re safe. 

[snow_wizard]

We are getting drizzle now and adding to the ice, but I think it will be warm enough to stop the accretion pretty soon.

[TT-SEA]

3 minutes ago, jakerepp said:

Just shy of an inch here today I think. Snow is probably basically done for the day. Looks pretty! Still just 22*

That looks pretty crazy for Goodyear, Arizona!

[Cold Snap]

And it’s raining again. Currently 30.

[snow_wizard]

7 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Drove past North Bend around 6am, it was icy as all hell.

Shortly past the HW18/I90 junction as we bent around into the Snoqualmie River Valley we hit the easterlies. They came on all at once and dropped the temps from 27F to 17F almost instantly. Interestingly, they came along with a sudden onset of moderate sleet. Probably a reflection of how mitigated the boundary layer warming was being in the heart of the easterly outflow.

Good analysis.  Those east winds make a huge difference for sure.  I'm amazed you have made it through all of the bad weather.  Really bad day to drive.

[TT-SEA]

18 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Wind is SW at the 18/90 junction.  Could bode well for you.

Talk about a blast of winter we just had!

34 at the junction of I-90 and Hwy 18 now.

But the station near us is still at 26.   But that appears to be a 7 degree jump in the last hour so heading in the right direction.

[Cloud]

ZR picked up again.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Here we go, power is out!! I knew when that wind picked up we were fuked

[SouthHillFrosty]

4 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

We are getting drizzle now and adding to the ice, but I think it will be warm enough to stop the accretion pretty soon.

30 now and u can see the thaw starting to happen!!!

In other news, I saw my neighbor put his car through his fence as he tried to take a corner going 25mph +

[RentonHill]

I’d say 0.4” on average. Some spots have more some have less. 

[TT-SEA]

10 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Drove past North Bend around 6am, it was icy as all hell.

Shortly past the HW18/I90 junction as we bent around into the Snoqualmie River Valley we hit the easterlies. They came on all at once and dropped the temps from 27F to 17F almost instantly. Interestingly, they came along with a sudden onset of moderate sleet. Probably a reflection of how mitigated the boundary layer warming was being in the heart of the easterly outflow.

That is the usual spot for the east wind to start when heading east... just as soon as you start going down the hill past the Hwy 18 exit.    On the night of 2/11/19 it turned to rain at that exit around midnight but it kept snowing in North Bend (about 450 feet lower) for another 12 hours and there was another 12-18 inches that fell in North Bend after midnight while it was raining at the next exit west on I-90 the entire time.

[jakerepp]

4 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

That looks pretty crazy for Goodyear, Arizona!

It would be! Last day in the Boise area was a good one.

[Tyler Mode]

26 degrees with freezing drizzle here.  Never have seen ice like this here.  It's not super thick, but man the roads!!  Like a skating rink coming home from work just now!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

31 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Well....

The 12z GEFS had a quite a few chilly members later in the run.  Here we go again! 

Interesting. It does seem like at worst by New Year's temps will cool back down to around normal. I think it's probably too soon to assume January will suck. My feeling is January will be decent, with temps coming in about normal for the month, maybe even a little below normal. I am afraid from PDX south the cold anomaly will get totally wiped out and December will end up around average. Which is fine, it's overall been a chilly December and we all scored sub-freezing highs, following a very cold November. No complaints. 

[Cascadia_Wx]

23 after a low of 19 here. As cold as it sounds, 23 is actually the warmest it’s been in over 36 hours. 

Everything is white outside from the sleet. Got a quarter to a half inch of sleet overnight along with a light glaze.

[xfkirsten]

Haven't lost power here in Redmond at all, just flickers last night! I did venture out to the package lockers at the front of my apartment complex a little bit ago to get a package, and it was definitely hairy. The stairs down from my front door are solid ice, as are the sidewalks, and the edges of the parking lot road. The center of the road was slush, so I walked there, but I had a lot of trouble walking up to the package locker - I actually had to grab it and pull myself towards it, because there was a very slight incline (maybe 1-2% grade) and I couldn't get enough traction to get up it.

And right there was USPS, delivering packages, living up to their motto. I definitely made sure to thank the postman, and wish him well.

[Weiner Warrior]

Ugh.. Moderate rain and 30 degrees

[Tyler Mode]

7 attempts to get up my not steep driveway...had to lay saw dust down to make it.

Portland had a lot more sleet making traction much easier.   Driving into Battle Ground it's horrible at the best spots. 

[HuskyMaestro]

Just woken up, I’m insanely impressed that I still have power around my area given the conditions. Or maybe I just jinxed it lol

[Meatyorologist]

12 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Good analysis.  Those east winds make a huge difference for sure.  I'm amazed you have made it through all of the bad weather.  Really bad day to drive.

All wheel drive. Pretty stable. Even still there were some hairy spots. But my dad who was driving grew up in this snowy weather so he's pretty seasoned.

[justpassinthru]

1 hour ago, Doinko said:

Still 23 at PDX, not sure how the NWS expects us to warm us by tonight

26 in Oregon City and holding. PDX in general closer to the gorge influence. Will be stubborn at letting go of the "freeze"

[lowlandsnow]

11 minutes ago, Cloud said:

BFI notched a -21.0 departure yesterday with a 25/16 spread. That easily had to be one of the coldest days recorded. 

2nd coldest day by high temp at BFI since 2000. Dec 27 last year was colder with a high of 24.

[Katzen]

Very fine rain and 30 degrees, don’t see or hear any dripping yet

[justpassinthru]

28 minutes ago, TacomaWx said:

Really bad here in Covington. Cars getting stuck in front of the elementary school. 

Driving a rear wheel drive van on icy roads is a "no brainer"

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I decided not to go down to Eugene. We were having Christmas at the in-laws because my wife is working this weekend. She's already down there with the kids, so it kind of sucks, but the roads in Marion County are horrific. Even though we are well into the 40s our driveway is still a sheet of ice, so even if temps in the valley creep up above freezing things will still be pretty bad for a while. I also have been seeing tons of FB posts about how horrible the conditions are in Stayton, Silverton, the who places I'd have to get through whichever way I went to get to I-5. 

SLE is up to 30, but most stations in the Salem area and points north are still mid-upper 20s. That freezing line will slowly keep creeping north, SLE may not mix out, but I bet they end up in the 32-34 range before midnight as the lower levels at least begin to moderate, but we will see. 

There have been literally hundreds of accidents in Marion County today, I can't remember anything like this. 

Hwy 22 and Silver Falls Hwy

Hwy 22 leaving Salem at Gaffin Rd.

Silverton Rd just west of Silverton

Silverton Rd 2 miles east of Salem (Different location than first Silverton Rd pic)

Someone ice skating down 3rd St in Silverton

[lowlandsnow]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but the temp spiked to 26 at Seatac for 10 minutes yesterday

[RentonHill]

3 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Interesting. It does seem like at worst by New Year's temps will cool back down to around normal. I think it's probably too soon to assume January will suck. My feeling is January will be decent, with temps coming in about normal for the month, maybe even a little below normal. I am afraid from PDX south the cold anomaly will get totally wiped out and December will end up around average. Which is fine, it's overall been a chilly December and we all scored sub-freezing highs, following a very cold November. No complaints. 

EPS also looks promising. Aka not mega suck

[MWG]

48F here 

[snow_wizard]

What an event for Whatcom County.  Lynden and Sumas are still getting snow with temps far below freezing.

[snow_wizard]

21 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

34 at the junction of I-90 and Hwy 18 now.

But the station near us is still at 26.   But that appears to be a 7 degree jump in the last hour so heading in the right direction.

The cold is on life support now.