March in the Pacific Northwest

[snow_wizard]

Torch next winter?  This winter was pretty much a torch at least in the mountains and foothills.    All but two weeks were unusually warm and when i twas cold it was too dry for frost?    I hope we do have one more heavy frost spell at least before spring and summer is here for good!Q

 

Note I said frost. Not a deep freeze.  I just want it to go a touch below 32F one more time.

 

 

Normally we pick up at least 10 lows of 32 or below from this point onward in the outlying areas.  Some years have more than 20 in March alone.  Pretty hard to call the winter a torch when the winter average was below normal.

[MossMan]

Rain shadow moved north a tad, getting pounded by rain now

[Snowman5678]

Pouring here with a .43" rainfall rate and rain is getting chunkier to the point where there are a few very wet snowflakes mixerd in, usually you can only see them when i get a good east windgust....temp down to 36 degrees.

[HighlandExperience]

Pouring here with a .43" rainfall rate and rain is getting chunkier to the point where there are a few very wet snowflakes mixerd in, usually you can only see them when i get a good east windgust....temp down to 36 degrees.

 

I'm surprised at how chilly it is still. 

[snow_wizard]

Wow!

 

50 degrees in Bonney Lake while it's only 36 here.  That is 10 miles south of here if that.  The east wind just doesn't want to die here.

[epiceast]

Pouring here with a .43" rainfall rate and rain is getting chunkier to the point where there are a few very wet snowflakes mixerd in, usually you can only see them when i get a good east windgust....temp down to 36 degrees.

Low is goingn further south than it should.... Too bad we couldn't get another 6 hours of 925mb temp drop last night, that would have made a lot of difference.

[Snowman5678]

I'm surprised at how chilly it is still. 

 

ya me too...I think it will warm up though once the precip ends. Not sure though...

[Phil]

I enjoy it. That's one of the reasons why I live here.

 

If I wanted sun, I would move to San Diego.

You actually enjoy a spring full of damp, gloomy, drizzly crap?

[Phil]

Do we have a La Nina developing?

 

http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/sst/anomaly/2014/anomnight.2.27.2014.gif

No. It's temporary.

[luvssnow_spokane]

Wow!

 

50 degrees in Bonney Lake while it's only 36 here.  That is 10 miles south of here if that.  The east wind just doesn't want to die here.

Power of the swamp my friend!  

[Snowman5678]

Low is goingn further south than it should.... Too bad we couldn't get another 6 hours of 925mb temp drop last night, that would have made a lot of difference.

 

ya really, then i would probably have 6" of snow right now instead of .60" of rain.

[TT-SEA]

You actually enjoy a spring full of damp, gloomy, drizzly crap?

 

 

No... he is just trying to get a rise out of people.   Mostly me.   

 

Nobody would enjoy that in spring.    You can make an argument that it has a place in November and its comforting.   But in May and June??    That is sick... no joke.

[HighlandExperience]

Power of the swamp my friend!  

 

Yup never underestimate the outflow coming from the depths of the swamp. Tends to overpower any cold air.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

This is the only place in the world that you csn live in the clouds. What a miserable day. D**n if this low would of came in to the south of us we all would of been buried in snow.

[Phil]

The only way we could stop that is if the atmosphere is in a La Nina state when the Kelvin wave surfaces. It could happen especially considering the oceanic Kelvin waves and atmosphere have frequently been out of synch over the past couple of years. That having been said I think there is only a 25% or so chance we will avoid a Nino.

Simply put, at this point the QBO/SAO will promote the transition to a Niño via cooling the equatorial upper-troposphere and stratosphere, greatly enhancing convection/perturbing the Walker cell/etc.

 

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/118/p78z.jpg

 

The Sun is the wild card and greatly influences the MJO/Tropical Circulations: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364682612000302

 

So theoretically the Sun could stop a Niño transition...it killed the Niño attempt in 2012-13 and may very well do it again.

 

We focus on solar proxies best linked to UV emission and cosmic rays: sunspot number WN, F10.7 flux, core-to-wing ratio MgII, and galactic cosmic rays (GCR). A clear solar signature in MJO spectral properties is indeed found and shown to be both statistically significant and robust. UV proxies are found to be better correlated with MJO mean period than GCR, thus supporting rather the ozone mechanism of solar impact on MJO. The overall correlation with solar activity is found to be stronger in the Indian Ocean. Long periods (e.g. 50–80 day) are better correlated with solar activity than shorter periods (e.g. 30–60 day). A marked change in the relationship between MJO mean period and solar activity takes place in the declining phase of solar cycle 23, adding to its unusual character.

[TT-SEA]

I do. There isn't anything wrong with that.

 

Sort of.     Maybe be something else going on in your life that makes you want the really gloomy weather in the spring and summer?   

 

You don't even have Jim and Jesse with you on that one.  

[HighlandExperience]

This is the only place in the world that you csn live in the clouds. What a miserable day. D**n if this low would of came in to the south of us we all would of been buried in snow.

 

Dark clouds, rain, mid 30s.. That is what makes this climate miserable. 

[TT-SEA]

Wow!

 

50 degrees in Bonney Lake while it's only 36 here.  That is 10 miles south of here if that.  The east wind just doesn't want to die here.

 

 

Just looked at the incoming MM5 NAM.    The low is directly to our west right now which keeps the east wind going.    It will be passing to our north in the next couple hours which will flood us with southerly flow.

 

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/data/current_nam/images_d2/slp.00.0000.gif

 

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/data/current_nam/images_d2/slp.06.0000.gif

[Phil]

I do. There isn't anything wrong with that.

I didn't say there's anything wrong with it. I guess I just have a different taste.

 

Personally, after a long cold winter, I want sunshine, I want to open the windows and smell the fresh air..I want to hear the birds chirp in the morning. Right now I'm craving spring like I used to crave vodka.

 

There's nothing worse to me than needing to wear a hoodie in May. It sucks.

[Poulsbo Snowman]

You actually enjoy a spring full of damp, gloomy, drizzly crap?

 

I like active weather.  If that's what it takes to make it active, I'm all in.

[Poulsbo Snowman]

No... he is just trying to get a rise out of people.   Mostly me.   

 

Nobody would enjoy that in spring.    You can make an argument that it has a place in November and its comforting.   But in May and June??    That is sick... no joke.

 

It's not all about you. 

 

The fact is that it rains in the Puget Sound during the months of October through June.  If I didn't like it, I would move.  That's why I left Idaho.  Too hot and dry for my tastes.

[TT-SEA]

It's not all about you. 

 

The fact is that it rains in the Puget Sound during the months of October through June.  If I didn't like it, I would move.  That's why I left Idaho.  Too hot and dry for my tastes.

 

Yeah... it rains.  Thats fine.   But to cheer for endless stratiform, cold rain until July is silly... that is not normal in this region.    You know that and you are trying to be controversial.   

[Snowman5678]

April-June is where everyone in the puget sound starts getting really depressed and angry...and then you get the 1 nice day each month and everyone is so happy, then the next day is raining again and everyone hates each other again.

[Phil]

Yeah... it rains. That can be fine. But to cheer for endless stratiform, cold rain until July is silly... that is not normal in this region. You know that and you are trying to be controversial.

Hey, my wife loves 100 degree weather..I hate it unless it brings me severe wx. I guess we all have our own preferences.

 

I hate endless ridging too..frankly I hate endless anything. I like activity and variance.

[TT-SEA]

Hey, my wife loves 100 degree weather..I hate it unless it brings me severe wx. I guess we all have our own preferences.

 

I hate endless ridging too..frankly I hate endless anything. I like activity and variance.

 

I personally agree with all of this.... but who cares right?

[TT-SEA]

April-June is where everyone in the puget sound starts getting really depressed and angry...and then you get the 1 nice day each month and everyone is so happy, then the next day is raining again and everyone hates each other again.

 

This is very true.   Its human nature to want a decent number of nice days mixed in starting soon here.   It becomes almost a requirement for people around here.

[Poulsbo Snowman]

Yeah... it rains.  Thats fine.   But to cheer for endless stratiform, cold rain until July is silly... that is not normal in this region.    You know that and you are trying to be controversial.   

Go back to all of my posts.  That's not what I'm cheering for--but you can make up what you will.

[brody]

This is very true.   Its human nature to want a decent number of nice days mixed in starting soon here.   It becomes almost a requirement for people around here.

I know right, it has been too D**n long since I have seen a bikini that I hope this crap goes away soon.

 

I need my memory refreshed and SOON

[TT-SEA]

Go back to all of my posts.  That's not what I'm cheering for--but you can make up what you will.

 

I am dropping this because its just silly and pointless to discuss further.

[TT-SEA]

I know right, it has been too D**n long since I have seen a bikini that I hope this crap goes away soon.

 

I need my memory refreshed and SOON

 

I am good in that regard!  

[TT-SEA]

I think is what snowmizer was referring to... cold air is still so close even on Tuesday morning.   Probably the reason for all the rain this upcoming week as well.    This was originally supposed to be the time of a massive overrunning snow event.

 

http://mag.ncep.noaa.gov/data/nam/00/nam_namer_036_850_temp_ht.gif

[TT-SEA]

I like dark, damp, and cold 80% of the time. It makes for great coding weather as bright skies don't do well for my screens. Again, to each their own, and after spending time in climates where 72º and sunny is par for the course, it just isn't something I feel comfortable in. I work with a lot of developers and designers, and for most of us, the weather in Seattle has everything we could ask for and occasionally more.

 

As for assuming that some of us might be experiencing personal issues that would want us to desire "gloomy" weather, I would encourage you to expand your worldview.

 

I have never heard someone wanting it to be dark and gloomy 80% of the time because of their computer screens.   And I work with lots of Microsoft people all day long.   It is sunny in Seattle almost 50% of the year so you are in the wrong climate.   I am not sure where you could go to have dark, cold, gloom for 80% of the time... maybe northern England??   

[snow_wizard]

The WRF was WAY off with the south wind blast it showed.  Still very light easterly here.  With the cold to our N and NW so close a little change could bring that closer than expected.

[snow_wizard]

I like dark, damp, and cold 80% of the time. It makes for great coding weather as bright skies don't do well for my screens. Again, to each their own, and after spending time in climates where 72º and sunny is par for the course, it just isn't something I feel comfortable in. I work with a lot of developers and designers, and for most of us, the weather in Seattle has everything we could ask for and occasionally more.

 

As for assuming that some of us might be experiencing personal issues that would want us to desire "gloomy" weather, I would encourage you to expand your worldview.

 

 

We need more cold and snowy weather, but other than that it suits me fine.  I do like the long stretches of sunny weather in the summer as much as the rest of it.  Dark and damp 80% of the time isn't great for cold temps, so that is a bit excessive for me.

[MossMan]

Living here in the Stanwood/Arlington area my entire life (37yrs) and working outside for nearly 20 of those years, about the last 3 or 4yrs I would just dread the Jan-June timeframe. Each year it got harder and harder to go out and work in 39 degree drizzle day after day after day, to the point where I completely abandoned my profession (landscaping & Golf Course turf managment) to start a all new profession and NOT working outside. I love this state and will never move away Washington, but I will eventually move somewhere on the east slopes. Gray and drizzle in late winter and early spring is just horrible for me. At least I am no longer freezing my a** off 5 days a week

[TT-SEA]

The WRF was WAY off with the south wind blast it showed.  Still very light easterly here.  With the cold to our N and NW so close a little change could bring that closer than expected.

 

 

Its coming soon... it showed it hitting between 7-10 p.m.

[TT-SEA]

It's not the sole reason, but a nice one.

 

 

Right.  

[Dan the Weatherman]

Living here in the Stanwood/Arlington area my entire life (37yrs) and working outside for nearly 20 of those years, about the last 3 or 4yrs I would just dread the Jan-June timeframe. Each year it got harder and harder to go out and work in 39 degree drizzle day after day after day, to the point where I completely abandoned my profession (landscaping & Golf Course turf managment) to start a all new profession and NOT working outside. I love this state and will never move away Washington, but I will eventually move somewhere on the east slopes. Gray and drizzle in late winter and early spring is just horrible for me. At least I am no longer freezing my a** off 5 days a week

 

I don't live in Washington, but I have a question for you here. Did you simply just get tired of the weather and working outdoors in it during the last 3-4 years of your former profession, or did the weather recently transition into a wetter and cloudier regime overall than it was in the previous 15 years or so? Just curious.

[Jesse]

Just got back from the coast. 4" of snow here with about 1/4" of ice on top of it. I-84 was a mess. 

 

Great to see some March snow, though!

[Jesse]

Torch next winter?  This winter was pretty much a torch at least in the mountains and foothills.    All but two weeks were unusually warm and when i twas cold it was too dry for frost?    I hope we do have one more heavy frost spell at least before spring and summer is here for good!Q

 

Note I said frost. Not a deep freeze.  I just want it to go a touch below 32F one more time.

 

What are you smoking?

 

This was a fairly cold winter overall.