August 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[Front Ranger]

Summer usually does not start until July around here.

 

Summer started way earlier in 2015.   It started around May 19th in 2017.   I said that many times last year.   There was a pretty clear line. 

 

2016 was strange... very warm April and then sort of a crappy May, June, and early July with a few heat waves thrown in to confuse the issue.  

 

Of course July/August are almost always going to be warmer/drier than June or September.

 

But to act like that's the only time you see "summer" is silly and subjective. Especially when what you've seen in recent warm seasons has been consistently warmer/drier than normal most of the time.

[TT-SEA]

I stopped at "warmer and drier than normal here since late April".

 

That's all that's really needed to be said at this point.

Difference is that you actually had genuine summer weather in May and June while we did not most of the time.

 

Summer really started here around July 4th... when it stopped feeling chilly and damp and we could put away the sweatshirts and jackets.

[BLI snowman]

Not really in a position to look it up but wasn't 85-86 a bigtime north/south year with the goodies? The Nov event was Washington-based. It was 4 years before I moved to Oregon so I'm not sure.

 

Still in hurry up and wait mode for surgery.

 

WA definitely did better with that pattern but the whole Willamette Valley had a nice snowstorm with it at the end of November and beginning of December.

[BLI snowman]

Difference is that you actually had genuine summer weather in May and June while we did not most of the time.

 

Summer really started here around July 4th... when it stopped feeling chilly and damp and we could put away the sweatshirts and jackets.

 

That's terrific. And now the whole region is way past overdue for some wetter than normal weather and sustained troughing. Been a long stretch. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Not really in a position to look it up but wasn't 85-86 a bigtime north/south year with the goodies? The Nov event was Washington-based. It was 4 years before I moved to Oregon so I'm not sure.

 

Still in hurry up and wait mode for surgery.

 

Here is what 1985 looked like for Salem. I wouldn't really call it a N/S year at all.

 

January - Driest January on record for Salem. Cold month with a mean of 34.3. 

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=1&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

February - Chilly month overall, some cold and lowland snow beginning of the month.

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=2&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

March - Cold March. Average low of 32.1 at SLE

 

April - April was pretty dry, below average temps.

 

May - Less than an inch of rain.

 

June - A really wet day on June 6th (1.63" of rain), near average temps.

 

July - Hot July. 12 90+ days. 

 

August - August was cool by 21st century standards.

 

September - The last 3 days of the month had lows in the mid-30s. 

 

October - 62/25 on the 9th is notable. 

 

November - Just the coldest November on record and 2nd coldest November cold snap on record. The duration for a November cold snap is unprecedented. 

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=11&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

December - Major overrunning event at the beginning of the month. Cold month throughout. One of the coldest December's on record. 

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=12&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like February 1986 had lowland snow as well.

[TT-SEA]

That's terrific. And now the whole region is way past overdue for some wetter than normal weather and sustained troughing. Been a long stretch. 

 

 

Still above normal for precip for the year here... if we are ever going to have a drier than normal year then it might have to stay drier than normal for the rest of 2018.

 

Been waiting 5 years for a drier than normal year... or even a year that does not approach record wetness.   It has to come eventually!   Maybe 2018 will be the year.    

 

 

[TT-SEA]

Canadian smoke has been pushing offshore... but now we have fire northwest of Lake Chelan dumping new smoke into the area.   Getting worse this afternoon.

 

[Front Ranger]

Still above normal for precip for the year here... if we are ever going to have a drier than normal year then it might have to stay drier than normal for the rest of 2018.

 

Been waiting 5 years for a drier than normal year... or even a year that does not approach record wetness.   It has to come eventually!   Maybe 2018 will be the year.    

 

 

 

But now even the past 6 months are below normal for your area. Just think how this would look without that crazy wet April!

 

[Phil]

If all that extra rain comes during the winter when you’re inside anyway, who cares?

 

You’ve had a seemingly endless string of dry summers in recent years. No reason to complain.

[TT-SEA]

But now even the past 6 months are below normal for your area. Just think how this would look without that crazy wet April!

 

6mPNormWRCC-NW.png

Statistically speaking... every year cannot be well above normal for precip. That has been the case since 2014.

 

Still hoping 2018 can break the streak. It has a long way to go and we will need to end up drier than normal overall through the end of the year to make it happen!

 

Unless warm and wet is the new normal.

[Phil]

But now even the past 6 months are below normal for your area. Just think how this would look without that crazy wet April!

 

6mPNormWRCC-NW.png

Haha, unbelievable. It’s been drier than average since friggin’ February in Tim’s backyard and he’s still b*tching.

 

And minus those 2 weeks in April, it’s been downright desert-like, relative to his average.

 

It literally couldn’t get warmer/drier in the warm season if it tried.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Hopefully TigerWoodsLibido saw my extensive post answering his question. Might be hard to find in all this crap...

[TT-SEA]

Haha, unbelievable. It’s been drier than average since friggin’ February in Tim’s backyard and he’s still b*tching.

 

And minus those 2 weeks in April, it’s been downright desert-like, relative to his average.

 

It literally can’t get warmer/drier if it tried.

In the Snoqualmie Valley this year... we had the most days with rain this decade in the January through mid-April period.   

 

We had just 15 dry days in that 105-day period.

 

WAY more than normal. Way more days with light rain and drizle than normal.

 

I would much rather have huge rain events and lots of dry days in between.   It was sopping wet here overall until the 4th of July.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

It really does get old reading the same argument day after day.

[Jesse]

It really does get old reading the same argument day after day.

When you have someone who dependably rejects reality whenever certain topics come up it’s bound to happen.

[TT-SEA]

It really does get old reading the same argument day after day.

 

And it never changes what really happened.

 

The maps gloss over the day to day reality.

 

There are wet periods that can seem really enjoyable because the rain was focused on a few days... and there are drier than normal periods that can seem miserable because you are getting endless light rain and drizzle.

 

Summer did not start here until July 4th this year... because we had so much of the latter.   

 

It can all be explained by persistent NW flow... which leaves Seattle southward truly dry and frequently sunny... while its endless damp to the north and east of Seattle.   

[Jesse]

Looney tunes.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Here is what 1985 looked like for Salem. I wouldn't really call it a N/S year at all.

 

January - Driest January on record for Salem. Cold month with a mean of 34.3.

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=1&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

February - Chilly month overall, some cold and lowland snow beginning of the month.

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=2&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

March - Cold March. Average low of 32.1 at SLE

 

April - April was pretty dry, below average temps.

 

May - Less than an inch of rain.

 

June - A really wet day on June 6th (1.63" of rain), near average temps.

 

July - Hot July. 12 90+ days.

 

August - August was cool by 21st century standards.

 

September - The last 3 days of the month had lows in the mid-30s.

 

October - 62/25 on the 9th is notable.

 

November - Just the coldest November on record and 2nd coldest November cold snap on record. The duration for a November cold snap is unprecedented.

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=11&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

December - Major overrunning event at the beginning of the month. Cold month throughout. One of the coldest December's on record.

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024232&year=1985&month=12&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

Can you post KEUG data for that too?

[Jesse]

EPS looks good.

[James Jones]

Haha, unbelievable. It’s been drier than average since friggin’ February in Tim’s backyard and he’s still b*tching.

 

And minus those 2 weeks in April, it’s been downright desert-like, relative to his average.

 

It literally couldn’t get warmer/drier in the warm season if it tried.

 

Extrapolate the precip totals of the major lowland stations since mid-April over a full year and they would sit well below the 10" maximum criteria for a desert. It's been over 4 months now of incredibly dry conditions.

 

It's funny how our climate has a reputation for being so rainy and cloudy when it's perfectly capable of going months without any meaningful rain with abundant sunshine.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Hopefully TigerWoodsLibido saw my extensive post answering his question. Might be hard to find in all this crap...

I did thank you. Trying to get a historical context for Eugene/Springfield as opposed to the central and north valley as I will be moving there.

[TT-SEA]

When you have someone who dependably denies reality whenever certain topics come up it’s bound to happen.

 

 

Denies reality?

 

I know exactly what happened here.   And what has happened elsewhere.      

 

I have not denied any reality at all.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I did thank you. Trying to get a historical context for Eugene/Springfield as opposed to the central and north valley as I will be moving there.

 

I can do that. Hold on.

[Front Ranger]

And it never changes what really happened.

 

The maps gloss over the day to day reality.

 

There are wet periods that can seem really enjoyable because the rain was focused on a few days... and there are drier than normal periods that can seem miserable because you are getting endless light rain and drizzle.

 

Summer did not start here until July 4th this year... because we had so much of the latter.   

 

It can all be explained by persistent NW flow... which leaves Seattle southward truly dry and frequently sunny... while its endless damp to the north and east of Seattle.   

 

See, you've said this before and yet refuse to apply the same logic to your "wettest 4 year period in history" mantra. All that matters is the yearly/4 year numbers then.

[Deweydog]

Looney tunes.

Yet you guys constantly play into it...

 

Looney tunes too?

[Jesse]

Denies reality??

 

I know exactly what happened here. And what has happened elsewhere.

 

I have not denied any reality at all.

I changed it to rejects. Thought it fit better. Denial implies at least acknowledging reality to a degree before warping things. Rejection is more of a wholesale dismissal.

[Geos]

Canadian smoke has been pushing offshore... but now we have fire northwest of Lake Chelan dumping new smoke into the area.   Getting worse this afternoon.

 

 

Definitely getting worse out there in the last couple hours. Sun is more orange than earlier. Almost all the Puget Sound location in the purple category now. https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/enviwa/

267 at the nearest station to here.  

[TT-SEA]

I changed it to rejects. Thought it fit better. Denial implies at least acknowledging reality to a degree before warping things. Rejection is more of a wholesale dismissal.

 

 

See addition to my post above.

[Front Ranger]

Extrapolate the precip totals of the major lowland stations since mid-April over a full year and they would sit well below the 10" maximum criteria for a desert. It's been over 4 months now of incredibly dry conditions.

 

It's funny how our climate has a reputation for being so rainy and cloudy when it's perfectly capable of going months without any meaningful rain with abundant sunshine.

 

It really is a unique climate - very Mediterranean in the warm season, but very maritime in the cool season.

 

The really rainy reputation really only applies to about half the year (10 months at Tim's location).

[TT-SEA]

See, you've said this before and yet refuse to apply the same logic to your "wettest 4 year period in history" mantra. All that matters is the yearly/4 year numbers then.

 

 

There have been some extended dry periods... and some very persistently wet periods in that time frame. 

[TT-SEA]

See, you've said this before and yet refuse to apply the same logic to your "wettest 4 year period in history" mantra. All that matters is the yearly/4 year numbers then.

 

 

If there is light rain and drizzle every single day in a month and it ends up statistically drier than normal... did it seem dry?     

 

If there is a month with two huge rain events that ends up statistically wetter than normal but was sunny on 28 days... did it seem wet?

 

2018 was persistently wet here until the 4th of July... then summer started.    That is all.  

[Jesse]

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I can do that. Hold on.

 

KEUG

 

January - Cold and Dry. 0.31" of precip. 34.1 monthly mean.

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024221&year=1985&month=1&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

February - Only a dusting of snow whereas SLE had about 4-5". A solid cold snap early on though. 

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024221&year=1985&month=2&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

March - Chilly month, snow in the air on a few days. 

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024221&year=1985&month=3&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

April - Coold and dry

 

May - Cool and dry. Low of 29 on the 11th.

 

June - dry 2nd half of the month.

 

July - 12 90+ days just like SLE

 

August - Coolish. Low of 39 on the 21st. 

 

September - Fairly cool.

 

October - Some lows in the 20s first 10 days of the month.

 

November - Cold

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024221&year=1985&month=11&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

 

December - Snow on the 1st. Cold month with a mean of only 33.0

 

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/e15daily.php?stn=USW00024221&year=1985&month=12&unit=EN&network=direct:ghcn&sidebar=0

[Front Ranger]

There have been some extended dry periods... and some very persistently wet periods in that time frame. 

 

And the unusually dry periods have mostly come in the warm season (months like Dec 2017 excluded), and the unusually wet almost exclusively in the wet season.

 

Equals out to very wet years, but not necessarily more rainy days than normal.

[TT-SEA]

I have always said that the single most important aspect of judging a month or season here for me is the number of dry days.  

 

The warm seasons of 2015 and 2017 were incredible in that regard.

 

The winter of 2015-16 was miserable in that regard.

 

January through mid-April of 2018 was miserable as well in my area.

 

That being said... I am still on the watch for a drier than normal calendar year!    Although I would never call the summer of 2018 wet and cool.  

[Front Ranger]

If there is light rain and drizzle every single day in a month and it ends up statistically drier than normal... did it seem dry?     

 

If there is a month with two huge rain events that ends up statistically wetter than normal but was sunny on 28 days... did it seem wet?

 

2018 was persistently wet here until the 4th of July... then summer started.    That is all.  

 

Much warmer than normal in May, including 11 sunny days with temps well above normal.

 

You may not consider it "summery" until everything dries up, but that doesn't mean it was "wet" relative to normal.

[Deweydog]

[TT-SEA]

Much warmer than normal in May, including 11 sunny days with temps well above normal.

 

You may not consider it "summery" until everything dries up, but that doesn't mean it was "wet" relative to normal.

Totally agree.

 

But it did not feel like "summer" either with crappy weather on 20 days.

 

Summer did not start here until the 4th of July. But I would say it basically started in late April in Portland.

 

It can be both.

[Phil]

Extrapolate the precip totals of the major lowland stations since mid-April over a full year and they would sit well below the 10" maximum criteria for a desert. It's been over 4 months now of incredibly dry conditions.

 

It's funny how our climate has a reputation for being so rainy and cloudy when it's perfectly capable of going months without any meaningful rain with abundant sunshine.

Death Valley would probably be be too cold/wet for Tim.