March Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just saw saw lightning here in SW Portland

[TT-SEA]

One more picture from Tuesday in North Bend...

 

[HighlandExperience]

And many varieties of trees are budding and blooming now.

 

Just look at the climate zone maps for the US... we are about the same as Georgia.

 

Not debatable.

Yea cherry trees around here are blooming, but most of the deciduous trees have nothing on them.

 

Of course when you are surrounded by evergreens it’s perpetually green year around. That is one thing I love about the PNW. Love conifers.

 

I don’t care for deciduous trees.

[HighlandExperience]

This is a couple of miles down from where tt lives. Lots of snow on the ground with greenery. This is about 2,000 feet elevation. Solid 3-5 feet on the ground.

[TT-SEA]

This is a couple of miles down from where tt lives. Lots of snow on the ground with greenery

 

More than a couple miles!   That must be higher up in elevation towards the pass.  It looks nothing like that here.   

 

 

 

Almost all of our deciduous trees are budding now.  The alders looks like they are ready to burst into leaves very soon.     And of course the grass is lush green across the entire area.    Unlike in DC.  

[HighlandExperience]

Ok 20 miles east of you. Probably more like 15 as the crows fly.

 

Yes around 2k in elevation.

[TT-SEA]

Ok 20 miles east of you. Probably more like 15 as the crows fly.

Yes around 2k in elevation.

20 miles away is also Alpental where there is 200 inches of snow on the ground.

 

You can drive from that to cherry blossom mania in North Bend in about 17 minutes.

 

I wish I could transport Phil here right now and do that drive with him. It would be eye opening.

[Phil]

That is one thing I love about the PNW. Love conifers.

 

I don’t care for deciduous trees.

Eh, my onion is starting to change on this. Aesthetically speaking, I love conifers. But man, they’re so d**n fragile compared to hardwoods. It’s become a massive pain in the butt for me, since I work for an arboriculture and landscaping company, and I’m always cleaning them up and cutting them down when they start to lean over.

 

Our county actually has regulations preventing the planting of all Pine and Fir trees within 100ft of buildings on public land, after a rash of deaths and property damage took place back in the 1980s, largely from conifers planted in new suburban developments following WWII. It was a borderline epidemic.

[VancouverIslandSouth]

Looks like some convection up around Shawnigan today. Relatively warm and dry here today at 56F, this month is on track to be ridiculously dry. Better to get it over with in March rather than May I suppose.

[TT-SEA]

Driving to Bellingham right now... what a gorgeous day.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

At UMadBro s place in Newberg. 46 with hail showers

[Deweydog]

Matt - season 5 is breaking all the freakin rules of outdoor filming and seasons and any semblance of consistency. So bad that its become a major distraction for me. Are you through season 5 yet?

 

Across a couple episodes spanning of 3-4 days in their lives... it goes from full on summer to dead of winter then back to summer and then to fall. In one scene they play up the weather with their visible breath and flurries falling and bare trees when just the day before it looked like July... and then the next day its summer again. Its like they are intentionally doing it.

It drives my wife crazy but I manage to just roll with it. It is pretty bad though. I remember one episode where it was suddenly supposed to be Xmas time but there was one scene where it was snowing but a tree in the background was fully flocked with leaves. Then there's the timing issues between seasons. Some things seem to progress months while other storylines clearly only progressed a few weeks.

[TT-SEA]

It drives my wife crazy but I manage to just roll with it. It is pretty bad though. I remember one episode where it was suddenly supposed to be Xmas time but there was one scene where it was snowing but a tree in the background was fully flocked with leaves. Then there's the timing issues between seasons. Some things seem to progress months while other storylines clearly only progressed a few weeks.

Fiona also went to a Bears game about 3 months after Xmas. I tried to work that out but could not do it.

[ShawniganLake]

Looks like some convection up around Shawnigan today. Relatively warm and dry here today at 56F, this month is on track to be ridiculously dry. Better to get it over with in March rather than May I suppose.

Apparently there was thunder. I was working in Duncan and missed it.

[Anti Marine Layer]

The above average temperatures forecast for this weekend (from last week) failed for the PNW, but the below average forecast for California was correct. We've had on and off periods of light rain from the persistent low over your area, but cold temperatures and wind were more of a factor here.

[MossMan]

Hail reported in Everett about an hour ago.

[snow_wizard]

Eh, my onion is starting to change on this. Aesthetically speaking, I love conifers. But man, they’re so d**n fragile compared to hardwoods. It’s become a massive pain in the butt for me, since I work for an arboriculture and landscaping company, and I’m always cleaning them up and cutting them down when they start to lean over.

 

Our county actually has regulations preventing the planting of all Pine and Fir trees within 100ft of buildings on public land, after a rash of deaths and property damage took place back in the 1980s, largely from conifers planted in new suburban developments following WWII. It was a borderline epidemic.

 

Given the proper conditions conifers can be very tough though.  If they are often exposed to high winds and annual precip is low enough for the growth rings to be very tight.  If grown in sheltered and wet areas they are pretty weak though. 

[snow_wizard]

And many varieties of trees are budding and blooming now.

 

Just look at the climate zone maps for the US... we are about the same as Georgia. 

 

Not debatable.

 

Overall this climate is way colder than Georgia.

[snow_wizard]

Matt - season 5 is breaking all the freakin rules of outdoor filming and seasons and any semblance of consistency. So bad that its become a major distraction for me. Are you through season 5 yet?

 

Across a couple episodes spanning of 3-4 days in their lives... it goes from full on summer to dead of winter then back to summer and then to fall. In one scene they play up the weather with their visible breath and flurries falling and bare trees when just the day before it looked like July... and then the next day its summer again. Its like they are intentionally doing it.

 

What show are you referring to?  Sounds fun!

[seattleweatherguy]

Hail reported in Everett about an hour ago.

 

So that is where the strong thunderstorms are at now? Uh oh

[ShawniganLake]

Given the proper conditions conifers can be very tough though. If they are often exposed to high winds and annual precip is low enough for the growth rings to be very tight. If grown in sheltered and wet areas they are pretty weak though.

Yea. The windiest areas I know are almost all conifers. Such as fir, spruce and cedars on the west coast of Vancouver Island. And the Fraser river canyon is full of pine trees. That’s a consistently windy area. The trees barely even move during gale force gusts.

[Blizzard777]

Live view here... this is what a weak marine push looks like on a summer morning.   Status pushes up to the top of the ridge and you can see it descending down and disappearing.  

 

You need to set up a camera and get some time

Lapse of that!

[Phil]

Given the proper conditions conifers can be very tough though. If they are often exposed to high winds and annual precip is low enough for the growth rings to be very tight. If grown in sheltered and wet areas they are pretty weak though.

Interesting. It’s sort of the opposite here, in that conifers perform better when they grow together in packs, such that they protect eachother from the wind, while hardwoods seem to perform better when they’re standing alone with less competition.

 

Conifers also seem to handle drought much better than the hardwoods here, the latter of which will start dropping leaves and dying back during hot/dry summers. At which point those dying branches also become a hazard during high winds.

 

FWIW, we have about a dozen tall White Pine, four Canadian Hemlock, and two Douglas Fir on our property, and they’re all planted with “companions”. However, all of the conifers which were planted as “singles” have either been felled or lost their tops years ago. Their wood simply isn’t as sturdy as the hardwoods’.

[TT-SEA]

What show are you referring to?  Sounds fun!

 

Shameless on Netflix.   

[MossMan]

Beautiful by day, pouring rain by night...works for me!!

[TT-SEA]

Overall this climate is way colder than Georgia.

 

Same climate zone in the Seattle area and most of Georgia.

 

And the progression in the spring is about the same.    But its way warmer there in the warm season.

[TT-SEA]

Beautiful by day, pouring rain by night...works for me!!

 

It was sunny until about 3 p.m. at our house but was finally clouding up when we were leaving... and then it was sunny for the entire drive up to Bellingham and was a gorgeous evening up here.   Looks like a good cell moved through at home in the last couple hours though.

[Phil]

Long post, but since I work with trees it’s also something I’m passionate about.

 

I’ve also noticed some fascinating, species-specific adaptation mechanisms after studying the tree damage following “extreme” wind events such as the great blowdown on 7/25/10, and the progressive derecho on 6/29/12, both of which produced swaths of winds over 100mph.

 

At those “extreme” levels, all trees become vulnerable and in the worst hit areas, they all suffered damage. However each species also responded differently.

 

In the extreme wind areas:

 

- The heavy wood of the large Oaks and Sycamores prevented excessive breakage, but their root systems often failed, and the entire tree would topple over, lifting up massive chunks of Earth in the process. The trees that survived had their leaves largely shredded by the winds.

 

- The Tulip Poplars did the opposite, and essentially shed all of their peripheral branches, leaving the structural skeleton intact, which could later regrow from. It’s a brilliant strategy IMO, and it makes sense because these trees mark the first stage of forest succession, which often involves exposure to elements.

 

- White Pine, Loblolly Pine, and Douglas Fir all responded by snapping off, either just above the ground or higher up the tree somewhere. There were isolated cases of White Pine uprooting, but I didn’t see any uprooted Douglas Fir or Loblolly Pine. Also, Douglas Fir usually snapped higher up, while White Pine snapped lower. Loblolly Pine showed no preference for either.

 

- Canadian Hemlock displayed no strong tendency towards any type of damage. Most were snapped halfway up like Douglas Fir, but many were also uprooted, and others were just leaning over in the ground.

 

- Black Locust sort of just crumbled. They had all kinds of broken branches everywhere. Some look like they’d been blown up by dynamite.

 

- The various Maples also tended to uproot but displayed more significant breakage in their crowns. A few were just blasted throughout the crown, like Black Locust. The one exception was Norway Maple, which were mostly uprooted.

 

- Cottonwood did the best of all the trees IMO. When they succumbed it was usually via bow breakage but many trees simply lost all of their leaves and stood intact with some moderate breakage higher up. The ones that uprooted were always very old/huge.

 

In all, it really educated me on what trees to plant, and where.

[VancouverIslandSouth]

Apparently there was thunder. I was working in Duncan and missed it.

 

There was a bit of hail around here and a small area got hit with some heavier stuff. I didn't hear any thunder though.

[Phil]

The long range 00z GFS is a perfect example of how a deep -NAO can kill a western ridge.

 

Twice the ridge tries to assert itself, and both times it is flattened by the momentum flux interference from the downstream block.

[snow_wizard]

The long range 00z GFS is a perfect example of how a deep -NAO can kill a western ridge.

 

Twice the ridge tries to assert itself, and both times it is flattened by the momentum flux interference from the downstream block.

 

I'm more than sold a strong -NAO isn't necessarily a bad thing for us, and is probably more of a positive when it's west based.

[snow_wizard]

As for all of the blossoms and whatnot around here...we have to keep in mind those three really warm days are largely responsible for that.  Other than that it's been pretty chilly overall.  In my book having a 32 degree drop in the 6am temperature over a two day period is pretty D**n dynamic and I'm perfectly fine with the warm spike we had.  I really have no interest in the pointless comparisons between here and other parts of the country.  This climate is what it is.

[snow_wizard]

Very interesting analogs to the 0z run tonight.  A good showing from 1951, 1953, 1955, and 1956.  We're going to be just fine if we keep seeing these 1950s through mid 1970s analogs going.

[TT-SEA]

As for all of the blossoms and whatnot around here...we have to keep in mind those three really warm days are largely responsible for that.  Other than that it's been pretty chilly overall.  In my book having a 32 degree drop in the 6am temperature over a two day period is pretty d**n dynamic and I'm perfectly fine with the warm spike we had.  I really have no interest in the pointless comparisons between here and other parts of the country.  This climate is what it is.

 

Its also the middle of March and the grass is always green and there are always blossoming trees and flowers by this point here.   

 

Our latitude is extremely deceiving.   Go visit other places at this latitude such as in Minnesota or North Dakota or Maine or in Russia right now.   There is literally no sign of spring.   Everything is still in deep dormancy.   Its very brown... strikingly brown if there is no snow.   

 

It is never like that here even in the dead of winter.

 

And now it looks like this at 450 feet in elevation at 47.29 degrees north latitude at the base of the Cascade Mountains... even after a record setting cold spell in the last half of February.  

 

[TT-SEA]

Total snow per the 00Z ECMWF...

 

[HighlandExperience]

Its also the middle of March and the grass is always green and there are always blossoming trees and flowers by this point here.

 

Our latitude is extremely deceiving. Go visit other places at this latitude such as in Minnesota or North Dakota or Maine or in Russia right now. There is literally no sign of spring. Everything is still in deep dormancy. Its very brown... strikingly brown if there is no snow.

 

It is never like that here even in the dead of winter.

 

And now it looks like this at 450 feet in elevation at 47.29 degrees north latitude at the base of the Cascade Mountains... even after a record setting cold spell in the last half of February.

 

This is true. Same is true in Western Europe. Generally around mid March cherry blossom trees start blooming in Vienna. It is quite beautiful there.

[Jesse]

It is often very brown and dormant here in the dead of winter. Last January comes to mind.

[HighlandExperience]

[snow_wizard]

Interesting. It’s sort of the opposite here, in that conifers perform better when they grow together in packs, such that they protect eachother from the wind, while hardwoods seem to perform better when they’re standing alone with less competition.

 

Conifers also seem to handle drought much better than the hardwoods here, the latter of which will start dropping leaves and dying back during hot/dry summers. At which point those dying branches also become a hazard during high winds.

 

FWIW, we have about a dozen tall White Pine, four Canadian Hemlock, and two Douglas Fir on our property, and they’re all planted with “companions”. However, all of the conifers which were planted as “singles” have either been felled or lost their tops years ago. Their wood simply isn’t as sturdy as the hardwoods’.

 

One really interesting thing with the fir trees here is the ones that grow in really windy areas often end up one sided with no branches on the windward side.  That mainly happens in the mountain valleys where strong channeled winds blow from the same direction several months out of the year.  When they're like that they can withstand tremendous winds from the prevailing direction.  The best examples I've seen of this are NNW of Ellensburg WA where very strong NW blow for about half of the year.  In that case the trees are one sided and leaning at about a 30 degree angle.

[TT-SEA]