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December 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest


Tyler Mode

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It seems like things are setting up decently for an opportunity late in the month. In 2014/15 and 15/16 that was when we were "hit" so even in some of our worst winters that timeframe has demonstrated its ability to provide a good window.

FWIW, 2014/15 also had the cold US November then flipped very zonal in December with stormier weather for much of the west coast and Alaska.

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Phil says the Aleutian low is our friend right now. Playing the long game.

It is your friend if you want a higher chance at a “legit” midwinter Arctic outbreak, but it’s also a gamble because if it fails to break the PV (no wave-2 sequence) then it’s just wasted time for nothing.

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I think that’s why it’s our friend. Helps destabilize the PV.

 

EPS looks like a standard El Niño pattern thru day 15. Trough in the GOA, blast furnace across Canada and a jacked up southern jet.

Exactly. All of the PNW Arctic blasts in niño winters were preceded by significant PV weakening events, including the great winter of 1968/69, and more recent ones too such as 2006/07 and 2009/10.

 

The niño winters with strong PVs (like 2015/16, 2002/03, 1991/92, 1982/83, etc) tend to suck all the way through.

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FWIW, 2014/15 had early season wave activity during November, but the vortex recovered in December and sort of just settled in thereafter, with all wave-1 attempts being spectacular failures.

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Down to 8F here already...so the cold air source is there for you guys. 

 

Just think what it could be with some real cold air in place though!

Cold Season 2023/24:

Total snowfall: 26"

Highest daily snowfall: 5"

Deepest snow depth: 12"

Coldest daily high: -20ºF

Coldest daily low: -42ºF

Number of subzero days: 5

Personal Weather Station on Wunderground: 

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KMTBOZEM152#history

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Redmond hits portlands all time record low with ease yearly. -28 is the all time low here and have hit it twice in the last five years so maybe Portlands isn't so untouchable.

UHI alone has put the majority of city records out of reach. And the extra 1.5*F of global warming doesn’t help.

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According to the NWS, Portland beat the peak gust for last year’s storm season, clocking a gust of 46 today at the airport. It was very windy even here in Beaverton.

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"Let's mosey!"

 

--Cloud Strife

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Top 5 Snow Events (post 2014):

 

(1. January 10th, 2017: 18.5 in.

(2. February 6th, 2014: 7.5 inches

(3. February 20th, 2018: 5.0 inches

(4. February 21st, 2018: 4.0 inches

(5. December 14th, 2016: 3.5 inches

 

Honourable Mentions: December 7th, 2018, February 9th, 2019.

 

Total since joining the Weather Forums: 3"

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Also winds are really ripping at my house in the West Hills, haven’t seen the trees strained back like this since the April 7th, 2017 windstorm.

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"Let's mosey!"

 

--Cloud Strife

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Top 5 Snow Events (post 2014):

 

(1. January 10th, 2017: 18.5 in.

(2. February 6th, 2014: 7.5 inches

(3. February 20th, 2018: 5.0 inches

(4. February 21st, 2018: 4.0 inches

(5. December 14th, 2016: 3.5 inches

 

Honourable Mentions: December 7th, 2018, February 9th, 2019.

 

Total since joining the Weather Forums: 3"

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In the end, I think the differences in solar and the Pacific will be 2014-15's undoing. B)

Time will again tell! It definitely hasn’t been a half bad match so far. At least as far as national temp profiles. August-October 2014 torched a lot harder here than this year.

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Is anyone actually excited for rain to come back?

 

This dry air is messing with me. My throat is dry, my lips are dry, the inside of my nose is dry, and I needed eye drops yesterday. The east winds only make things worse, even on the leeward side of the West Hills. (Does it even matter?)

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I was using

 

So, the first

 

12-5-2018

12-8-2017

12-5-2016

 

Closest we had come previously in a 3 yr. stretch was:

 

12-13-1999

12-3-1998

12-7-1997

 

I always find this stuff interesting. The three year average was later for that late 90s stretch, mostly due to the extremely late reading in 1999. Exactly one month after PDX's latest 70+ on record if my memory serves. Mild fall/early winter that year to make up for one of our last truly cool summers.

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I always find this stuff interesting. The three year average was later for that late 90s stretch, mostly due to the extremely late reading in 1999. Exactly one month after PDX's latest 70+ on record if my memory serves. Mild fall/early winter that year to make up for one of our last truly cool summers.

 

1954, the year summer never came, had the warmest Halloween on record in Portland at 71º. Interesting stuff.

 

Does anyone know what caused the "crummer" of 1954 to be so cold? I haven't been able to find much info on it.

 

Same for the complete joke that was 1955. Not only the coldest year on record, but the cloudiest, with only 1596 hours of sunshine which is less than what London typically receives in a year.

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1954, the year summer never came, had the warmest Halloween on record in Portland at 71º. Interesting stuff.

 

Does anyone know what caused the "crummer" of 1954 to be so cold? I haven't been able to find much info on it.

 

Same for the complete joke that was 1955. Not only the coldest year on record, but the cloudiest, with only 1596 hours of sunshine which is less than what London typically receives in a year.

 

Probably magic, blessings from God, and a tanked PDO.

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1954, the year summer never came, had the warmest Halloween on record in Portland at 71º. Interesting stuff.

 

Does anyone know what caused the "crummer" of 1954 to be so cold? I haven't been able to find much info on it.

 

Same for the complete joke that was 1955. Not only the coldest year on record, but the cloudiest, with only 1596 hours of sunshine which is less than what London typically receives in a year.

 

There are records of sunshine hours somewhere? Never seen that.

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There are records of sunshine hours somewhere? Never seen that.

 

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/pdxclimate/index.php

 

They started in 1951 and stopped in 1995. Using 1960-1990 statistics cited on Wikipedia, Portland gets about 2340 hours of sunshine a year, or about 52% of the time.

 

The average for the 51-95 period is 2140 hours (sun shining 48% of the time) because the 1950s were so cloudy that they skewed the average.

 

Would be interesting to see how sunny 2015 and 2018 were.

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1954, the year summer never came, had the warmest Halloween on record in Portland at 71º. Interesting stuff.

 

Does anyone know what caused the "crummer" of 1954 to be so cold? I haven't been able to find much info on it.

 

Same for the complete joke that was 1955. Not only the coldest year on record, but the cloudiest, with only 1596 hours of sunshine which is less than what London typically receives in a year.

 

Massive La Nina with a tanked PDO had something to do with it. The strong Nina/cool spring + summer connection is about as strong as it gets around here. The Nina was forming in summer 1954 and peaking in fall 1955.

 

1954 was also an infamously ridgy summer in the SE and southern Plains, with the "Son of the Dust Bowl" developing in 1953-56.

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Is anyone actually excited for rain to come back?

 

This dry air is messing with me. My throat is dry, my lips are dry, the inside of my nose is dry, and I needed eye drops yesterday. The east winds only make things worse, even on the leeward side of the West Hills. (Does it even matter?)

No. Not me anyway. I have been loving this cold sunny dry weather! If we can’t have snow or big storms producing tons of snow in the mountains or wind down here I would much rather have what we are currently in.

Elevation 580’ Location a few miles east of I-5 on the Snohomish Co side of the Snohomish/Skagit border. I love snow/cold AND sun/warmth! 

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Seems like we had an east wind event that was similar if not stronger last December.

 

That one seemed much more localized to E. Portland (PDX "only" received a gust of 41). Also very strong, but this one is crazy strong even on the West Side.

"Let's mosey!"

 

--Cloud Strife

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Top 5 Snow Events (post 2014):

 

(1. January 10th, 2017: 18.5 in.

(2. February 6th, 2014: 7.5 inches

(3. February 20th, 2018: 5.0 inches

(4. February 21st, 2018: 4.0 inches

(5. December 14th, 2016: 3.5 inches

 

Honourable Mentions: December 7th, 2018, February 9th, 2019.

 

Total since joining the Weather Forums: 3"

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Down to freezing with no wind. Nice crisp night. Let's see if we can make it down into the teens.

Springfield, Oregon regular season 2023-24 Stats:

  • Coldest high: 25F (Jan 14, 2024)
  • Coldest low: 20F (Jan 14, 2024)
  • Days with below freezing temps: 24 (Most recent: Mar 8, 2024)
  • Days with sub-40F highs: 4 (Most recent: Jan 16, 2024)
  • Total snowfall: 0.0"
  • Total ice: 2.25”
  • Last accumulating snowfall on roads: Dec 27, 2021 (1.9")
  • Last sub-freezing high: Jan 15, 2024 (27F)
  • Last White Christmas: 1990
  • Significant wind events (gusts 45+): 0

Personal Stats:

  • Last accumulating snowfall on roads: Dec 27, 2021
  • Last sub-freezing high: Jan 16, 2024 (32F)
  • Last White Christmas: 2008
  • Total snowfall since joining TheWeatherForums: 42.0"
  • Sub-freezing highs since joining TheWeatherForums: 4

 

Venmo

GoFundMe "College Basketball vs Epilepsy": gf.me/u/zk3pj2

My Twitter @CBBjerseys4hope

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1954 was also an infamously ridgy summer in the SE and southern Plains, with the "Son of the Dust Bowl" developing in 1953-56.

Interestingly, those were extremely humid summers here based on the DCA records. Multiple days with dewpoints into the middle 80’s, similar to 2011.

 

Very different from the “dry” heat of the 1930s.

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