December Weather In the PNW

[Front Ranger]

Merry Christmas everyone... ended up with around 3inches of snow... absolutely wonderful!!

So from what I can gather...

 

- 2-5" Seattle/Tacoma/Everett metro

- 6"+ King County foothills

- 2-3" Arlington area

- 0-1" NW interior

- 1-2" Olympia to Portland metro

[Guest Dome Buster]

OT, but who else loves the smell of deviled eggs in the air? Nothing better, and I don't mean just from the eggs but the aftermath.

[Guest Dome Buster]

BTW, anyone read the afternoon Portland AFD? Looks like some more fun coming up. That gorge is something else.

[MossMan]

So from what I can gather...

 

- 2-5" Seattle/Tacoma/Everett metro

- 6"+ King County foothills

- 2-3" Arlington area

- 0-1" NW interior

- 1-2" Olympia to Portland metro

I ended up with 1 notch below 3”, very little melting with snow still on the trees and side roads. Definitely Needed 4wd to make it down the side road to the lake house.

[Prairiedog]

What a difference a few miles made.  The infamous warm nose Andrew and I deal with (I'm near Estacada at 315"), left me with nothing but sleet.  A light dusting of sleet fell yesterday am, then about 1/8" of pure unadulterated sleet later in the day.  10 miles west of me on I-205 heading north into Vancouver was unbelievable.  45mph gusts from the east, blowing and drifting snow, and ice accumulation on the hiway.  Took us 1.5hrs to make a normally 25min trip.  Coming back, it took 2 hrs.  Once over the Glenn Jackson Bridge into Oregon it was solid ice and some compact snow but at least the pressure gradients went slack so the wind had died down but was still 27f. 

Oh, and thank you PDOT and ODOT for the wonderful sanding and deicing job you did NOT lay down on the hiway.  This was Christmas Eve, lots of cars needing to get to places important and nada from PDOT and ODOT.  Incredible.  Ok I digress.  Yet another complete screw up IMHO.

The warm nose got me last winter too when Portland was getting plastered with a foot of snow.  I had cold rain until about 4am the next morning when I finally squeezed out 3".  I hate warm noses.  Its like when my 130lb Newfoundland dog jams her warm nose where it doesn't belong. 

[Guest Dome Buster]

What a difference a few miles made.  The infamous warm nose Andrew and I deal with (I'm near Estacada at 315"), left me with nothing but sleet.  A light dusting of sleet fell yesterday am, then about 1/8" of pure unadulterated sleet later in the day.  10 miles west of me on I-205 heading north into Vancouver was unbelievable.  45mph gusts from the east, blowing and drifting snow, and ice accumulation on the hiway.  Took us 1.5hrs to make a normally 25min trip.  Coming back, it took 2 hrs.  Once over the Glenn Jackson Bridge into Oregon it was solid ice and some compact snow but at least the pressure gradients went slack so the wind had died down but was still 27f. 

Oh, and thank you PDOT and ODOT for the wonderful sanding and deicing job you did NOT lay down on the hiway.  This was Christmas Eve, lots of cars needing to get to places important and nada from PDOT and ODOT.  Incredible.  Ok I digress.  Yet another complete screw up IMHO.

The warm nose got me last winter too when Portland was getting plastered with a foot of snow.  I had cold rain until about 4am the next morning when I finally squeezed out 3".  I hate warm noses.  Its like when my 130lb Newfoundland dog jams her warm nose where it doesn't belong.

I hear you. My dad lives at an 800' elevation off of Beaver Creek Rd., between Clarkes and Meadowbrook. You would think higher elevation would equal better opportunities but it is never the case there. He had nothing but sleet there and I ended up with 1.5 inches of snow here in Happy Valley at 450'.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

BTW, anyone read the afternoon Portland AFD? Looks like some more fun coming up. That gorge is something else.

Certainly for the Metro and maybe parts of the N Valley. Still waiting on an event to impact the C and S Valley. MLK Day...

[Guest Dome Buster]

Certainly for the Metro and maybe parts of the N Valley. Still waiting on an event to impact the C and S Valley. MLK Day...

I asked you yesterday. In any position to move higher up or closer to the gorge?

[Tyler Mode]

I was expecting a high near 40 today, managed 34.  Really surprised to get home to light snow falling again.

[Guest El nina]

BTW, anyone read the afternoon Portland AFD? Looks like some more fun coming up. That gorge is something else.

How would Portland ever get snow without the gorge?

[Deweydog]

How would Portland ever get snow without the gorge?

Government subsidies.

[Guest El nina]

Government subsidies.

Because they control the weather... smart man.

[Jesse]

How would Portland ever get snow without the gorge?

Tax cuts to the wealthy, trickle down wet bulb.

[Jesse]

Because they control the weather... smart man.

Strange considering their models don’t know SHITT.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

I asked you yesterday. In any position to move higher up or closer to the gorge?

I actually really want to move to Bend. Sadly my career was derailed by rather severe epilepsy so I am stuck where I'm at for right now. One day I'll get there.

[Guest El nina]

Strange considering their models don’t know SHITT.

Reverse psychology.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Light snow again. 31 degrees.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Tomorrow looks like another solidly chilly day. 

[snow_wizard]

The ECMWF weeklies look VERY promising for the mid to late January time frame.  The control model shows three rounds of intense cold and the ensemble mean is decidedly decent.

 

 

[snow_wizard]

Phil really has nothing to be ashamed of at this point.  We did get a taste of winter and the big stuff he has been talking about may just be a little bit late.  I still have high confidence we are going to get some good later.

[Geos]

Today was an awesome and a beautiful day. 

Got to 33. Snow softened a bit, but really didn't melt except on the pavement somewhat. Now it's back under freezing and getting slick again.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The ECMWF weeklies look VERY promising for the mid to late January time frame.  The control model shows three rounds of intense cold and the ensemble mean is decidedly decent.

 

That looks fantastic! I think in a few days the models will really start to show some carrots. I think potentially we could start to see improvement in the January 5-10 timeframe, 

[TT-SEA]

Skiing was really good... but disappointing that there was lots of freezing drizzle at the end of the day up at the pass. Guess there is warm air aloft already.

[snow_wizard]

BTW, anyone read the afternoon Portland AFD? Looks like some more fun coming up. That gorge is something else.

 

You would have loved the gorge in January 1862.  That month was epic pretty much everywhere, but the gorge area was insane.  This is from Fort Vancouver.  Every time I look at the records from this winter I can hardly believe it happened!  The snow depths are extrapolated, but the observer said every day of the month had between 6 to 24 inches of snow on the ground!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

You would have loved the gorge in January 1862.  That month was epic pretty much everywhere, but the gorge area was insane.  This is from Fort Vancouver.  Every time I look at the records from this winter I can hardly believe it happened!  The snow depths are extrapolated, but the observer said every day of the month had between 6 to 24 inches of snow on the ground!

 

That is unreal! Did Eola have records from then I wonder? 

[snow_wizard]

Today was an awesome and a beautiful day. 

Got to 33. Snow softened a bit, but really didn't melt except on the pavement somewhat. Now it's back under freezing and getting slick again.

 

I hope it can at least partially clear so everything freezes up good.

[snow_wizard]

That is unreal! Did Eola have records from then I wonder? 

 

No.  I have the Eola records and they only go back to 1871 or right around there.

[Canadian guy]

Phil really has nothing to be ashamed of at this point. We did get a taste of winter and the big stuff he has been talking about may just be a little bit late. I still have high confidence we are going to get some good s**t later.

Hopefully this is just the warning shot.

[snow_wizard]

Skiing was really good... but disappointing that there was lots of freezing drizzle at the end of the day up at the pass. Guess there is warm air aloft already.

 

Talk about strange.  I had nice quality snow falling here fairly late in the morning.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

No.  I have the Eola records and they only go back to 1871 or right around there.

 

The old Wallace Orchard station in Salem was cool too... The thing I have always wondered is where observations were taken in Salem before the airport . Records go back to 1892 for Salem, but obviously that precedes the airport...Anyways, that is the kind of nerd question weenies like myself ponder at night.

[luvssnow_spokane]

Talk about strange.  I had nice quality snow falling here fairly late in the morning.

I had off and on rain at my place until about 3am... turned back to snow about that time.

[HighlandExperience]

What an amazing event.

[umadbro]

Merry Christmas y'all

[Prairiedog]

I hear you. My dad lives at an 800' elevation off of Beaver Creek Rd., between Clarkes and Meadowbrook. You would think higher elevation would equal better opportunities but it is never the case there. He had nothing but sleet there and I ended up with 1.5 inches of snow here in Happy Valley at 450'.

My salmon and steelhead fishing buddy lives at 1,200ft off Lower Highland Rd and he didn't even get sleet.  Just rain.  Between micro climates and the big slimy warm nose, it was ugly. 

[Guest El nina]

Merry Christmas y'all

First time I scrolled by I thought it was a snowman.

[BLI snowman]

Coldest Christmas since 1990 is looking likely. PDX was 33/19 that day and since then the coldest have been 2008 at 37/33 and 2009 at 42/24. Story is basically the same for Seattle.

 

Funny that after all the model hiccups this came to fruition for some of us. A very respectable 33/29 today at PDX.

[Deweydog]

Funny that after all the model hiccups this came to fruition for some of us. A very respectable 33/29 today at PDX.

Two things we do well and will continue to do well are underestimating the lower levels and overestimating the upper levels.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

High today was 32.2. Very respectable for this air mass.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

My salmon and steelhead fishing buddy lives at 1,200ft off Lower Highland Rd and he didn't even get sleet.  Just rain.  Between micro climates and the big slimy warm nose, it was ugly. 

 

Its weird that area gets warm nosed worse than here even though we are further south, I think it is the way those hills are aligned away from the main body of the Cascades. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Interesting high temps today.

 

EUG 50

SLE  41

PDX 33