PNW January 2023 Observations and Discussion

[snow_wizard]

32 minutes ago, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

And Leavenworth and Wenatchee are expecting 4-6 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow morning.  As far as Waterville, it is 2600' in elevation, where Wenatchee and Leavenworth are about 1200'.

Even that elevation doesn't explain why they are THAT cold.  I've been watching that microclimate for years and it is exceptionally cold there.

Periods like this just highlight how much it sucks here.

[snow_wizard]

39 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

idk why but these boring weather patterns have never bothered me. They're pretty peaceful and they offer a chance to zone out a bit. In the meantime, before the weather gets exciting again, it's mostly dry and cloudy with temps ranging between 35-55F. By most accounts that is quite comfortable winter weather.

It also keeps our impactful systems fresh and enjoyable. Even after this recent active December there was noticeable burnout on the forums.

Not exactly peaceful here today.

[snow_wizard]

48 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Shitt like this proves that if everything came together we could have some crazy weather events here. Imagine that fuker closer to the coast with an arctic high in Bc.

There is no doubt this area is capable of highly destructive weather events.  As you say the ingredients just have to come together right.

[Requiem]

Some real strong easterly winds here now 

[snow_wizard]

4 minutes ago, Requiem said:

Some real strong easterly winds here now 

Do you have a weather station that records wind speed?

[Requiem]

6 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Do you have a weather station that records wind speed?

Not at the moment, no, but wind recordings always tend to be a crapshoot here where there so many little topographical nuances. I'd have to estimate some of these gusts are reaching 45 mph at least, though.

[TT-SEA]

28 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Not exactly peaceful here today.

Its been a fairly peaceful pattern since the windstorm a week ago and even that was isolated mostly out here in the foothills.    Looks fairly quiet going forward as well.    

December was also pretty benign except for the craziness between 12/19-12/27.    But that period had just about everything!  

 

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

48 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Even that elevation doesn't explain why they are THAT cold.  I've been watching that microclimate for years and it is exceptionally cold there.

Periods like this just highlight how much it sucks here.

I think elevation does explain it.  They are 1400' higher than Leavenworth and Wenatchee, and their average temps are about 3 degrees colder than Leavenworth and about 4-5 degrees colder than Wenatchee.

[RentonHill]

GEEFS is good again

[RentonHill]

Windy AF here. One of the stronger east winds I can remember in 8 years here. 

[Hawksfan2008]

1 hour ago, snow_wizard said:

Looks like the truck stop just east of NB had a gust to 53 a little bit earlier.  No mystery why the trees are one sided through that stretch.

Unfortunately removing my trees because of this. The east side of them is basically gone. Just ugly now and keep wrecking the fence. 

[Requiem]

Most of the metro is at least breezy at this point-- 205 bridge gusting to 50 on the hour.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Wind is roaring up here. Also very warm. In the mid 50s. Power lines at the end of the road were on fire. Now it’s on the ground dancing. 

[TT-SEA]

10 minutes ago, Hawksfan2008 said:

Unfortunately removing my trees because of this. The east side of them is basically gone. Just ugly now and keep wrecking the fence. 

Power is out here... and there is still very little wind up here.   This might be a longer one with many other areas in the Puget Sound area impacted this time.   And not sure how quickly they will be able to get out and make repairs with the wind still going.  

[Christensen87]

Wind is BLOWING and power flickering in the Claw. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Power went out at 6p. Can’t believe how warm it is. 

[Requiem]

4 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Power went out at 6p. Can’t believe how warm it is. 

Might be a symptom of the increasing downslope signature-- places like Estacada are now gusting 45-55.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

1 minute ago, Requiem said:

Might be a symptom of the increasing downslope signature-- places like Estacada are now gusting 45-55.

Yeah we hardly ever get offshore winds. Has to be a mountain wave type of event for it to happen. Aside from September 2020, other notable times I remember were January 4, 2017 and November 2014. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

[GHweatherChris]

1 hour ago, TT-SEA said:

Its been a fairly peaceful pattern since the windstorm a week ago and even that was isolated mostly out here in the foothills.    Looks fairly quiet going forward as well.    

December was also pretty benign except for the craziness between 12/19-12/27.    But that period had just about everything!  

 

Not starting anything, but Jim said today, not anything about previous days or moving forward.

[GHweatherChris]

Only got up to 44 today, current temp 39.

[MWG]

Currently 55F no rain at all today just a few drops but still very windy and tomorrow we will see some rain. The part of the town where we live we are very lucky of not losing power from all the winds events.

[MWG]

10 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Yeah we hardly ever get offshore winds. Has to be a mountain wave type of event for it to happen. Aside from September 2020, other notable times I remember were January 4, 2017 and November 2014. 

I don't want to relieve September 2020 it was scary because of the fire.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I forgot about the weekend this fall they did the power shut off. It wasn’t terrible here though. 

[BLI snowman]

3 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

This climate just blows in the winter sometimes.

Sometimes=January

[HuskyMaestro]

3 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

That is really weird.  Did he have any way of knowing you like snow?

Nope, he was towards the front and was one of the first. It was just weird, the guy seemed straight out of India/South Asia, why would you hate snow that badly? Lol.

Along with me saying “hi, I crave snow”, there were snowboarders and skiers in my class who also loved snow so man was outnumbered

[Requiem]

4 minutes ago, HuskyMaestro said:

Nope, he was towards the front and was one of the first. It was just weird, the guy seemed straight out of India/South Asia, why would you hate snow that badly? Lol.

Along with me saying “hi, I crave snow”, there were snowboarders and skiers in my class who also loved snow so man was outnumbered

I mean to be fair some people just... don't like snow. Doesn't have to be any reasoning behind it lol, I can't begrudge anyone anywhere for not liking extreme weather like I do 

[RentonHill]

Latching on to something!

[Requiem]

Station in Sandy gusting over 50 mph from the east. 

[Deweydog]

00z is running. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

38 degrees, was down to 37 with positive splat test, definitely some upslope over here and some impressive evaporative cooling. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

47F and calm. Got way warmer over the last hour or so.

[Cold Snap]

East wind blowing so hard in downtown Bellevue the stoplights are shaking up and down.

[NWbyNW]

1 hour ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Wind is roaring up here. Also very warm. In the mid 50s. Power lines at the end of the road were on fire. Now it’s on the ground dancing. 

I've been watching the storm in California and as the front made landfall, temps went up as well.  Must be tropical air in there with some warmth.  Temps went from 57F to 61F.  They've since dropped back to 57F after the brunt of the front. 

I'm trying to get the Californian's to engage or care about the storm in their topic, but they don't seem to care beyond a single one-word response or just talking about the weather in their immediate back yard.   

[TacomaWx]

Down to 44 with 0.10” of rain this evening. Almost 0 wind here now…always fascinating at how the angles in the cascade gaps can really blow hard in certain areas and completely shelter others. Lots of times the stampede gap winds hit us good here but not this evening it’s pointed more towards sea-tac. 

[Poulsbo Snowman]

24 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

00z is running. 

Where to?

[Deweydog]

4 minutes ago, Poulsbo Snowman said:

Where to?

February

[Deweydog]

Gettin’ gusty out there.

[MWG]

wow 57F

[Meatyorologist]

3 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

Not exactly peaceful here today.

Who says there isn't a subtle peace to be found in the wind?