PNW December 2022 - Part II

[SilverFallsAndrew]

3 minutes ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

Reagan and Daschle? Is that in a time warp from the 1980’s or something?

Haha I didn’t notice the close captioning there. That’s funny. Throwback to December 1983!

[Front Ranger]

1 hour ago, Kayla said:

I can’t believe I’m seeing this but it would appear that Bozeman MSU just tied their all-time record low of -43. Records go back to 1892!!

That station was originally in the middle of a wheat field now it’s smack dab in the middle of a large 16,000 student campus in the middle of a city of 50,000+ people!

Wild. DEN has hit at least -22, which would be their second coldest December temp of all-time, after the -25 set in Dec 1990. -

-25 is also the all-time low temp in the airport era, also hit in January 1963.

[Meatyorologist]

Only got down to 16F as raging east winds ramped up overnight. Stayed clear though! As always, it's always one detail away it seems... Next time

KSEA notching a fairly pedestrian 18F but with a dewpoint of 1 and easterlies gusting well over 30mph, it's hard to say this lower level airmass isn't an absolute beast.

[Front Ranger]

Casper, WY has also set their all-time record low with -42, breaking the previous record of -41 in December 1990.

Safe to say this is a top tier event?

[SilverFallsAndrew]

06z GFS wasn’t as suppressed and gives my area 16-20” of rain… 

[Doinko]

Just now, Meatyorologist said:

Only got down to 16F as raging east winds ramped up overnight. Stayed clear though! As always, it's always one detail away it seems... Next time

KSEA notching a fairly pedestrian 18F but with a dewpoint of 1 and easterlies gusting well over 30mph, it's hard to say this lower level airmass isn't an absolute beast.

They hit 17 last December?

PDX advected down to 22 degrees and probably will get a bit colder, which is colder than anything since 2017. Winds gusting 40-45mph too. DP of 1 degree there.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Front Ranger said:

Casper, WY has also set their all-time record low with -42, breaking the previous record of -41 in December 1990.

Safe to say this is a top tier event?

Yes it is for the lower 48. Not for the entirety of the PNW though. Maybe for Washington (like how 2013 was in Oregon but not Washington.). Incredible to see forecast highs along the Gulf Coast below freezing. 

[Hawksfan2008]

This is quite the event shown on the RGEM.

[Meatyorologist]

My area kind of fell under the Snoqualmie River Valley east wind finger, so we stayed a bit warm. But areas to my immediate north away from the winds did drop to around 13-15F. Lots of 11-13F readings around Bothell, and a couple single digits in the Redmond Highlands. Great stuff.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like Spokane hit -10 overnight, which was what I predicted for them a few days ago. 

[Meatyorologist]

3 minutes ago, Front Ranger said:

Casper, WY has also set their all-time record low with -42, breaking the previous record of -41 in December 1990.

Safe to say this is a top tier event?

An absolute beast for the northern Rockies and high plains.

[Blizzard777]

17* Federal away winds out of N 6-10

10* Ferndale winds ENE 25-30 

[Meatyorologist]

2 minutes ago, Hawksfan2008 said:

This is quite the event shown on the RGEM.

Seattle kind of gets a hodge-podge of everything. What a mess

[Skagit Weather]

Looks like winds ramped up here (gusts in the 10-15 mph range) after 4 a.m. which bumped up my temperature by about 10 degrees. However the 5.2F reading from before that happened is nothing to sneeze at. Definitely a notable blast and probably one of the top 2-3 coldest temperatures up here in the last 30 years or so.

[TT-SEA]

Brrrrr... don't think the sun is going to help much this morning.

[Doinko]

Down to 20 degrees back home. Looks very windy too

[Blizzard777]

Just pondering past storms especially in PDX.   So many times these storms fell apart as they approached PDX.  Moisture was never able to reach the ground because of the dry air mass.   Is their a chance this one might do the same?  I don’t remember the variable involved back in the day but it seemed to happen a lot.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like most places east of I205 and north of hwy 212 are in the 16-18 range. 

[Meatyorologist]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

Brrrrr... don't think the sun is going to help much this morning.

Huh. Noticeably brighter at your place. Curvature of the earth will do that. You'd think it would be a uniform brightness west of the Cascades but we forget that the Puget Sound is pretty wide.

Snow reflecting the sunrise off the mountains and back down to you really helps too.

[Phishy Wx]

was -3, now -2 some high level clouds rolled in. WC is averaging -20

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, Meatyorologist said:

Huh. Noticeably brighter at your place. Curvature of the earth will do that. You'd think it would be a uniform brightness west of the Cascades but we forget that the Puget Sound is pretty wide.

Snow reflecting the sunrise off the mountains and back down to you really helps too.

Interesting.   Looks like about the same brightness in Issaquah... 

[Meatyorologist]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

Interesting.   Looks like about the same brightness in Issaquah... 

It was a subtle difference I noticed between Seattle and North Bend, based off the colors and the overall brightness of your photo.

Not a big one and only really noticeable for select portions of the day, maybe 10-20 mins, but it's there.

[Seattle]

Got down to 17 before the easterlies hit around 3:30. Currently bumping around 18/19. Cold!

[Rubus Leucodermis]

17 minutes ago, Doinko said:

They hit 17 last December?

PDX advected down to 22 degrees and probably will get a bit colder, which is colder than anything since 2017. Winds gusting 40-45mph too. DP of 1 degree there.

That SEA was a degree colder last year fits with the overall pattern of this one being almost but not quite as cold as last year’s cold snap in northern parts of the west side.

BLI looks like it narrowly failed to drop into the single digits overnight, too.

[Blizzard777]

Whisky Barrel Falls looks a little different this morning! 1st picture was yesterday morning 
24 hours….huge change 

[Front Ranger]

16 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Yes it is for the lower 48. Not for the entirety of the PNW though. Maybe for Washington (like how 2013 was in Oregon but not Washington.). Incredible to see forecast highs along the Gulf Coast below freezing. 

Yeah, too much wind and too much of a glancing blow for the PNW to maximize the off the charts potential from it.

[umadbro]

[SnowySeeker50]

Currently 15 degrees. Looks like that will be the low for today, been sitting there for an hour

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Enjoying that bluish morning light for the final cold, clear morning.

Hopefully there will be lots of new snow on tomorrow morning’s shot!

[LowerGarfield]

At 3F now. I saw it at -0.2 once last night so I'm going to call it 0F.

[TT-SEA]

12Z GFS looks fairly dry in the Portland area... and shows lots of sleet up here.    Are the freezing rain and sleet maps double counting the precip?   Its confusing.

[snow maniac]

The calm before the destruction, you can see the cloud deck well moving in.

[Poulsbo Snowman]

Made it down to 13.  Very pleased with the past few days.  And today--well, it's going to be a blast.  Can't wait for things to get rolling.  Getting bored with the sun. 

[FroYoBro]

5 minutes ago, umadbro said:

Hmmm. Think this means we get an east wind today? 

[Hawksfan2008]

The RGEM is concerning for Washington. I’ve noticed it does really well with snowfall here when there’s an easterly component. I’m inferring but would think it does well in this setup…

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Still thinking 4–8" is a good estimate for what I will get before the transition begins.

[Requiem]

7 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

12Z GFS looks fairly dry in the Portland area... and shows lots of sleet up here.    Are the freezing rain and sleet maps double counting the precip?   Its confusing.

Not paying too much to the GFS output verbatim-- whatever does fall will freeze, and there's an evident signal that the cold air hangs on in the Gorge-outflow areas until Saturday. 

[Kayla]

1 hour ago, TT-SEA said:

Its 17 in North Bend with an east wind and it painful to be outside and this would be a heat wave for you.   I don't know how you do it.   And I grew up in Minnesota!    I have to say... I am glad this won't last long here.  

I sometimes wonder that myself! It sure is beautiful from inside though!

[TT-SEA]

3 minutes ago, Requiem said:

Not paying too much to the GFS output verbatim-- whatever does fall will freeze, and there's an evident signal that the cold air hangs on in the Gorge-outflow areas until Saturday. 

But how can it show the same amounts falling as freezing rain and sleet?    Wouldn't sleet be much less damaging?

[Doinko]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

But how can it show the same amounts falling as freezing rain and sleet?    Wouldn't sleet be much less damaging?

I don't think it's double counting the precip, I think it just shows a period on Friday where a lot of it falls as sleet and then transitions to freezing rain