PNW January 2023 Observations and Discussion

[snow_wizard]

1 minute ago, MossMan said:

It’s coming. 

Looking quite possible it begins this month now.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

11 hours ago, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

Jim especially will be interested in this 

https://mynorthwest.com/1516426/lost-clues-winter-1861-1862/

 

 

 

Just wanted to bump this for Jim. So do you know anything about that winter that could help Larry Schick?  Read the article.

@snow_wizard

[joelgombiner]

The cold shown on the long-range GFS ensemble is quite widespread. 

[snow_wizard]

5 minutes ago, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

Just wanted to bump this for Jim. So do you know anything about that winter that could help Larry Schick?  Read the article.

@snow_wizard

Yeah.  The clues are out there.  Not only the Fort Steilacom and Fort Vancouver records, but DuPont (just south of Tacoma) had a weekly newspaper going at that time that is full of choice stories about that amazing winter.  I probably know more about that winter than he does.  One of my favorite things in that newspaper talks about horse drawn sleighs and bon fires during that Christmas season.  People were having a blast with the abnormally cold and snowy weather.  That was just the appetizer for that wicked January.  

[MossMan]

I sure hope we can avoid a 2012/13-2015/16 winter lowland (in my area) snow drought over the next few seasons. That was painful. Maybe 5” total over those years combined in my area. As opposed to at least roughly guessing around 100” between 2017/18-present. 

[snow_wizard]

Another thing about the DuPont newspaper in the winter of 1861-62 is it gives some actual snow depths that are lacking in the Fort Steilacom records.  Nothing short of insane luck to have a great temperature record and decent snowfall data from the same area for that winter.  The newspaper was only in existence for about a decade.

[snow_wizard]

1 minute ago, MossMan said:

I sure hope we can avoid a 2012/13-2015/16 winter lowland (in my area) snow drought over the next few seasons. That was painful. Maybe 5” total over those years combined in my area. As opposed to at least roughly guessing around 100” between 2017/18-present. 

At least 2013-14 had two really impressive Arctic blasts.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

4 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Yeah.  The clues are out there.  Not only the Fort Steilacom and Fort Vancouver records, but DuPont (just south of Tacoma) had a weekly newspaper going at that time that is full of choice stories about that amazing winter.  I probably know more about that winter than he does.  One of my favorite things in that newspaper talks about horse drawn sleighs and bon fires during that Christmas season.  People were having a blast with the abnormally cold and snowy weather.  That was just the appetizer for that wicked January.  

Do you do twitter?  Maybe you could get in touch with Rebecca Stevenson and she could get you in touch with Larry Schick.  I always liked Larry, he seemed to love the kind of weather we do.

[snow_wizard]

1 minute ago, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

Do you do twitter?  Maybe you could get in touch with Rebecca Stevenson and she could get you in touch with Larry Schick.  I always liked Larry, he seemed to love the kind of weather we do.

I don't. 

I love the fact he's writing a book about those amazing events.

 

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

Just now, snow_wizard said:

I don't. 

I love the fact he's writing a book about those amazing events.

 

I'll let her know about the DuPont newspaper.  Where could he find that?

[snow_wizard]

1 hour ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

50-burger achieved! It is now warmer than it was at any point during daylight hours. 50.4˚F.

I'm ready to see some 10 burgers myself.

[snow_wizard]

Just now, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

I'll let her know about the DuPont newspaper.  Where could he find that?

I'll have to figure it out again.  I should have noted the name of the paper.  I'll PM you when I get it.

[joelgombiner]

It's so cool that research into what the weather was like just 160 years ago is still advancing. Shows you how little we know about our past world and how much there is to learn. 

[Skagit Weather]

Today was the 5th day this month with temperatures above 55F here. And the 8th day with lows above 40F. The monthly average temperature is currently warmer than last April so it will be nice when we finally drop closer to average after this weekend.

[snow_wizard]

I'm liking this!

[Slushy Inch]

Looks like one two punch on control. Second being the big one. 

[Slushy Inch]

Just small EPS changes so far.

[Slushy Inch]

GEFS and EPS agreements are on how that trough pumps up our ridge and how quickly it dissipates. 

[Slushy Inch]

I like control run.

[SouthHillFrosty]

[WeatherGeek2022]

32 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

I'm liking this!

[snow_wizard]

The EPS control gets pretty real on this run.

[Meatyorologist]

4 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

The EPS control gets pretty real on this run.

[North_County]

Sorry for revisiting an old.topic, but I was just catching up after a couple days away, and saw the discussion abut drinking water. We take that very seriously here....

(Zoom in on the blue signs)

[crf450ish]

Sat in a 3 hour meeting at work yesterday that covered a myriad of topics. I work for a local government entity. We have an emergency response/management program. Included in that program is quite a bit of money for snow & ice response. Several high ranking individuals made it clear that they are paying very close attention to the upcoming weather and that they've requested extra funding for equipment maintenance/breakdown repairs as well as more salt deliveries. 

 

I've learned to only take things at face value, however comparing this year to last year it seems as if we are taking a more proactive approach to whatever future weather events come. Maybe February has something in store?

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Good GFS run. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

50F and pleasant out there.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

7 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

50F and pleasant out there.

Worm about to turn again homie. Relish these nights. 

[Front Ranger]

9 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

Looking quite possible it begins this month now.

Andrew moved on from January in December.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

4 minutes ago, Front Ranger said:

Andrew moved on from January in December.

December 18th in fact. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

One silver lining in how awful January has been is that despite the extreme torching, or what has seemed like extreme torching, PDX and SLE are only 3.0F above normal. It's not unreasonable to think January still could end up near average. 

[Phishy Wx]

8 hours ago, 12345WeatherNerd said:

I like control run.

classic E WA/Purcell Trench backdoor blitz

[TacomaWx]

7 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

One silver lining in how awful January has been is that despite the extreme torching, or what has seemed like extreme torching, PDX and SLE are only 3.0F above normal. It's not unreasonable to think January still could end up near average. 

Right meow we’re about +3 in Tacoma but I haven’t ran the average since Wednesday. We finished last January-0.1F I think this one will finish somewhere between +1 and +2F which isn’t terrible for JANUARY. 

[Cascadia_Wx]

Appears that it’s going to get really cold in Iceland again this weekend. 12/7 day forecast for Reykjavik on Sunday. To put that into perspective their normal for this time of year is something like 35/25. Their climate is actually pretty maritime despite their high latitude. 

Haven’t verified it myself but heard from a lot of locals there that they had their coldest December in 50 years in the country, as well as some of the deepest snows in memory. Looks like that theme will continue for January.

[TacomaWx]

51 after a low of 48 in Tacoma. Up to 1.87” MTD. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

My wife stayed in Mt. Shasta, CA last night, looks like they have some snow on the ground, not a bad climate. They are headed down to Sacramento for a wedding this evening. Was supposed to go with them, but didn't actually take the day off and then had some meetings get scheduled for today at the last minute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Shasta,_California#Climate

Edited January 13, 2023 by SilverFallsAndrew

[Cascadia_Wx]

2 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

My wife stated in Mt. Shasta, CA last night, looks like they have some snow on the ground, not a bad climate. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Shasta,_California#Climate

I wonder if Omegaraptor has gotten around to editing that one yet.

[Timmy]

8 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Appears that it’s going to get really cold in Iceland again this weekend. 12/7 day forecast for Reykjavik on Sunday. To put that into perspective their normal for this time of year is something like 35/25. Their climate is actually pretty maritime despite their high latitude. 

Haven’t verified it myself but heard from a lot of locals there that they had their coldest December in 50 years in the country, as well as some of the deepest snows in memory. Looks like that theme will continue for January.

Experienced that is Norway last January and February.  Surprisinging mild maritime for that high latitude.  We were near kristiansund.  As you can imagine there is a huge difference just a few miles inland from the coast, but that Gulf Stream is powerful.

are you in Iceland?

Edited January 13, 2023 by Timmy

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Not a bad GFS run unfolding. 

[Cascadia_Wx]

7 minutes ago, Timmy said:

Experienced that is Norway last January and February.  Surprisinging mild maritime for that high latitude.  We were near kristiansund.  As you can imagine there is a huge difference just a few miles inland from the coast, but that Gulf Stream is powerful.

are you in Iceland?

Back home now, we were there December 28 through January 7.

Yeah it’s interesting. We took a trip to the east side of the island at one point (town called Hofn) which is more affected by the Gulf Stream than the Greenland current, and there was much less snow at sea level. That area apparently gets tons of rain though which translates to huge glaciers in the higher elevations. Vatnajokull is on that side of the island, which is the largest continental ice sheet in Europe outside of the Russian arctic. Kind of reminded me of a colder version of an Olympic Peninsula climate over there, minus any trees at all.