December 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[SilverFallsAndrew]

26 degrees for a low so far this morning.  If it isn't snowy, at least it's cold.

 

Yes! Nice to have it feel like winter out there, right on cue!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Frosty with the moon and a planet (venus?) in view. 

 

[Farmboy]

Yes! Nice to have it feel like winter out there, right on cue!

And very soon, it will feel wet! What many areas would consider spring-like conditions. Lol...

[TT-SEA]

First really hard freeze of the year here... down to 29 now.    Very frosty out there thanks to the left over moisture from the weekend rain.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Last night Mark Nelsen said on Facebook he wouldn't be surprised to see some upper teens in the usual outlying cold spots later this week. He thinks most people will be 22-28 Wednesday-Friday morning. That's why he went with a couple lows of 25 even though he doubts PDX will hit 25.

[luvssnow_spokane]

Had a low of 27 last night with light frost. 

[TT-SEA]

Frosty views...

 

 

[Farmboy]

Looks like a hard-hitting winter, people better bundle up and make sure there's a couple extra cords of firewood and a fully stocked pantry, Lol...

[Jesse]

Looks like a hard-hitting winter, people better bundle up and make sure there's a couple extra cords of firewood and a fully stocked pantry, Lol...

 

Indeed. It's been so awful that we're all considering wussing out and retreating to Quartzsite.

[Jesse]

I remember Feb 2017 we had that front that had become fairly stationary and the PDX metro was just barely on the wrong side of it with areas to the north and west of us getting snow. There was a dusting on 26 as close by as North Plains which is technically part of the metro and there was plenty of snow in the coast range and even some on the coast. 

 

A few days earlier models had that front becoming stationary and extending from about Newport to the Dallas with PDX metro on the cold side and getting absolutely pummeled with heavy snow. I remember lots of crazy snowmaps like this one:

 

Obviously it didn't verify here and things shifted north but at least the folks up north got a nice event. I guess it was only fair after PDX got the Jan 10 2017 event and Seattle was left in the cold. The mood up north would have turned real ugly if PDX got two massive events like that and Puget Sound got nothing and I wouldn't have blamed them .

 

 

I've always been fascinated by snow setups like those where the airmass isn't all that impressive but persistent heavy precip turns the entire column isothermal and drops heavy snow. If I recall Eugene had such a snowstorm a couple of years ago. 

 

Yeah, that was a nice anafront setup. We drove out to Astoria a day or so after the main event and there was snow on the ground from Kelso onward. Several inches up at the column.

[Front Ranger]

And very soon, it will feel wet! What many areas would consider spring-like conditions. Lol...

 

Your sig claims you like Arctic outbreaks. I'm sure you'll see plenty of those this winter. LOL

[TT-SEA]

If you squint your eyes... you can pretend it snowed.

 

[ShawniganLake]

Indeed. It's been so awful that we're all considering wussing out and retreating to Quartzsite.

Sitting alone in a trailer in the desert is probably pretty boring. You’d probably spend your mornings trolling a weather forum too.

[ShawniganLake]

There is some wicked cold air building in the Yukon next week on the GFS

[Front Ranger]

First really hard freeze of the year here... down to 29 now.    Very frosty out there thanks to the left over moisture from the weekend rain.  

 

SEA didn't even get close, keeping their freeze-less streak alive and well. 

 

Speaking of SEA, November was another classic month of them overperforming on the warm side of anomalies. They were +3.1. Meanwhile, Seattle WFO was +2.0 and OLM was +1.4.

[Front Ranger]

There is some wicked cold air building in the Yukon next week on the GFS

 

Is this post Phil-approved??

[Jesse]

SEA didn't even get close, keeping their freeze-less streak alive and well.

 

Speaking of SEA, November was another classic month of them overperforming on the warm side of anomalies. They were +3.1. Meanwhile, Seattle WFO was +2.0 and OLM was +1.4.

I didn’t realize they’ve been that warm. Even PDX was +1.5 for November, with two freezes so far. Possibly three counting this morning.

[Farmboy]

Sitting alone in a trailer in the desert is probably pretty boring. You’d probably spend your mornings trolling a weather forum too.

This is actually one of the few times I've had some free time. It's been quite busy the last 3 weeks. This is the busy time of year down here and I've been running a sign/vehicle graphics shop out of a farmers market tent...

[ShawniganLake]

Is this post Phil-approved??

Probably not. I do know that it generally has to get cold up there before it gets cold down here. This run actually looks close to something decent

[Timmy]

12z gfs and Gem are sure different. Gem shows zr or sleet Saturday-Monday for pdx and is twice as wet within the next 10 days. Gfs is much more splitty.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Got down to 30 here, EUG made it to 27 so more overperforming at the airport compared to the rest of town.

 

9th freeze of the cold season in the south valley.

[umadbro]

Gfs will probably verify. By Friday the models will have that system torn apart.

[Front Ranger]

I didn’t realize they’ve been that warm. Even PDX was +1.5 for November, with two freezes so far. Possibly three counting this morning.

 

Yeah, the only types of patterns where SEA seems to perform well these days with cold are Arctic or semi-Arctic continental air patterns (most recent being this past February).

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Got down to 30 here, EUG made it to 27 so more overperforming at the airport compared to the rest of town.

 

9th freeze of the cold season in the south valley.

 

Not over performing, EUG is probably ALWAYS 3-5 degrees colder than the urban core on a clear night. Their 12th freeze. 

 

I'm up to 13.

[Front Ranger]

Speaking of last February, I forgot how well PDX did with that. The 6.6" of snow was the most they've seen in February since 1993 - and that was exactly what they got in '93 as well.

[TT-SEA]

I have been watching the web cams at Whistler lately since we will be there in about 3 weeks... they are actually using the snow guns right down in the village this morning.   

 

[jcmcgaffey]

SEA didn't even get close, keeping their freeze-less streak alive and well.

 

Speaking of SEA, November was another classic month of them overperforming on the warm side of anomalies. They were +3.1. Meanwhile, Seattle WFO was +2.0 and OLM was +1.4.

Typically I have been running quite a bit colder at night than SEA or WFO. I have had a handful of freezes already but not last night. There was almost a bit of warm tongue action moving along the sound. I was down to 33 late yesterday evening but overnight the temp went up and I never even had a frost.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Speaking of last February, I forgot how well PDX did with that. The 6.6" of snow was the most they've seen in February since 1993 - and that was exactly what they got in '93 as well.

 

6.6"  for February 1993 is pretty lame. Glad they made up some of that disparity 25 years later.

[Jesse]

6.6"  for February 1993 is pretty lame. Glad they made up some of that disparity 25 years later.

 

#PDXsux

 

#Nelsenisn'tevenforecastingforthem

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Fantastic graphic courtesy of Brian Schmit

 

 

[Blizzard777]

Frosty views...

 

We’re socked in with fog and low of 31 earlier and currently 36*

[Front Ranger]

6.6" for February 1993 is pretty lame. Glad they made up some of that disparity 25 years later.

Yeah, I know the bullseye for that big storm was further south. Wasn't the jackpot in the Salem area or even a bit further south?

[Jesse]

Fantastic graphic courtesy of Brian Schmit

 

 

 

Could end up one of their warmest years on record if we don't get a December this year.

[Phil]

Frosty views...

 

 

Looks like a perfect day for tubing on the lake. Who knows if/when it will ever be sunny there again?

 

(Very nice pictures, btw).

[Jesse]

Looks like a perfect day for tubing on the lake. Who knows if/when it will ever be sunny there again?

 

(Very nice picture, btw).

 

I don't understand why anyone would ever care about frost anyway. It happens while most of us are sleeping and is boring and ugly.

[TT-SEA]

Looks like a perfect day for tubing on the lake. Who knows if/when it will ever be sunny there again?

 

(Very nice pictures, btw).

Good point!

 

But I think the water temperature might be below our threshold for water activities right now.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Could end up one of their warmest years on record if we don't get a December this year.

 

Last I checked at least most places were tracking well cooler than 2015. 

 

Plus December is not looking like a torch.

[Phil]

Is this post Phil-approved??

Affirmative. That’s a completely different wave station on the GFS vs the ECMWF.

 

Again, very easy to confuse the two.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Yeah, I know the bullseye for that big storm was further south. Wasn't the jackpot in the Salem area or even a bit further south?

 

Corvallis had a storm total of 15", Salem had 14" on the month, 12" on the 19th. 

[TT-SEA]

I don't understand why anyone would ever care about frost anyway. It happens while most of us are sleeping and is boring and ugly.

You really have a chip on your shoulder!

 

I love frosty mornings from December-February. It means it's not raining and usually means sunny days. And it's not during the gardening season. And it's really good for our fruit trees which need several hundred hours of freezing temps to be productive next summer.