December 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[SilverFallsAndrew]

12Z GFS is crashing the ridge hard by day 8 with heavy rain.  

 

Some cooler air works in behind it too. Not a bad solution. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Looks like a pretty dark day today. Let's see how far into the 40s we will get?

[ShawniganLake]

The gem shows an interesting setup with a ridge sitting over us in the extended, a pocket of -10c 850 temps in se Oregon and +5 everywhere else. It would likely be a pretty incredible low level cold setup, 2m temps show highs below freezing for west side locations.

Tropical tidbits shows highs in the 40s, FWIW.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The 12z GFS is actually not horrible.

[Front Ranger]

GEM remains way more amplified with the mid range blocking ridge compared to GFS. Massive cold dump into middle of the CONUS for NYE/NY.

 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

GEM remains way more amplified with the mid range blocking ridge compared to GFS. Massive cold dump into middle of the CONUS for NYE/NY.

 

gem_T850a_namer_26.png

 

WCWF returns!!!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I think I'd rather see the GFS solution verify, though it is a huge outlier.

[Jesse]

Should be another decent shot of Cascade snow today.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Rain just quickly transitioned over to snow. 35 degrees and coming down lightly, so not sticking.

[Timmy]

Tropical tidbits shows highs in the 40s, FWIW.

Upper 30’s to 40 here near pdx, and would likely be cooler with fog and east wind/drift. I didn’t go enough frames to see the six hour increment high temp. Still impressive.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Got down to 31 this morning before the front rolled through.

[Timmy]

Just saw a couple flakes here. A couple days ago the wrf and gfs and euro were showing a trace-3” this morning so, no I’m not excited. 35f

[TT-SEA]

Rain just quickly transitioned over to snow. 35 degrees and coming down lightly, so not sticking.

 

Same exact thing happening here.

[Front Ranger]

Have to give the FV3 credit. All of the models have really struggled past day 4 the past few days, but it appears to have been the most consistent and probably accurate for the pattern evolution in the 4-7 day period.

[Esquimalt]

Ensembles have improved this morning.  Definite cooler look in the mid range.  

[GHweatherChris]

Some wet snow mixing in here under a heavy shower.

[ShawniganLake]

Been 21 years since we’ve gone thru Christmas without even a trace of snow here. Actually haven’t even seen a mix to this point.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Congrats to folks seeing their first flakes this morning.

[Esquimalt]

Been 21 years since we’ve gone thru Christmas without even a trace of snow here. Actually haven’t even seen a mix to this point.

Worst winter since '25-'26.

[ShawniganLake]

Worst winter since '25-'26.

Heading that way.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Congrats to folks seeing their first flakes this morning.

 

I already saw flakes on Nov 30th.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Some wet snow mixing in here under a heavy shower.

Always amazed by how much snow you can get there. My friend todd lives at the Wishkah fish hatchery so I've spent alot of time down in that area.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Fwiw i have a good feeling that we'll start to see many chances gor lowland snow starting mid Jan.

[Esquimalt]

Heading that way.

One thing that annoys me about living out here is that so many people when they hear snow is in the forecast they get down. They complain.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

One thing that annoys me about living out here is that so many people when they hear snow is in the forecast they get down. They complain.

 

I don't think I've ever experienced this once. 

[Esquimalt]

I don't think I've ever experienced this once.

Just look when a forecaster goes on twitter and announces snow for the west coast. People say "oh God no" or "I can't live with that". I just feel that a lot of people that move out here are coming here because they hate the snow and want to escape it.

[TT-SEA]

About to end... but this band did manage sticking snow for the first time this year.

 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

I had about 45 minutes of snow that managed some slush on the cars.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

Just look when a forecaster goes on twitter and announces snow for the west coast. People say "oh God no" or "I can't live with that". I just feel that a lot of people that move out here are coming here because they hate the snow and want to escape it.

You are right about that.  I used to get annoyed when I lived on the West Side (Bellingham), and I would watch the Seattle news, and if their weatherman said "The good news is that it is going to get warmer", or "Fortunately, we won't get ay snow from this system", the other anchors would almost applaud.  But it is funny to see how people panic at the first hint of snow.  If there is any possible snow in the forecast, social activities get cancelled.  If there is even one tiny snowflake falling, the TV news leads with the story, and they send reporters all over the area as if a huge disaster just happened.

 

But I do like Scott Sistek.  I think he does like the snow, and understands there are a lot of people out in TV land who are also wanting snow.

[MossMan]

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just look when a forecaster goes on twitter and announces snow for the west coast. People say "oh God no" or "I can't live with that". I just feel that a lot of people that move out here are coming here because they hate the snow and want to escape it.

 

I don't pay much heed to idiots on twitter.

[Jesse]

12z GFS was quite nice.

[Esquimalt]

You are right about that.  I used to get annoyed when I lived on the West Side (Bellingham), and I would watch the Seattle news, and if their weatherman said "The good news is that it is going to get warmer", or "Fortunately, we won't get ay snow from this system", the other anchors would almost applaud.  But it is funny to see how people panic at the first hint of snow.  If there is any possible snow in the forecast, social activities get cancelled.  If there is even one tiny snowflake falling, the TV news leads with the story, and they send reporters all over the area as if a huge disaster just happened.

 

But I do like Scott Sistek.  I think he does like the snow, and understands there are a lot of people out in TV land who are also wanting snow.

Yeah, you're right. It's the broadcasters that always bother me, they always are like "It's a beautiful day in Victoria, thankfully looks like spring has come early"...meanwhile it's the 3rd week of January!

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Snow is one of nature's most amazing moments. I can remember walking around outside as a kid in amazment. The silence is one of the coolest things and i still enjoy it as much as ever.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

Unfortunately the majority of people find snow annoying and disruptive. I always give a few of my friends that hate the snow a hard time on Facebook whenever they post anything negative about snow.

I somewhat understand.  I do wish people would see the beauty in the snow, but it is hard to drive around in over there.  Here they plow the streets, and I always tell people the hardest part about my drive is my driveway (before I use my snowblower), because the streets are cleared after a snow.  During the snow can get a bit tricky though, so having an all wheel drive or 4WD is essential.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

12z GFS was quite nice.

 

It was

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

Snow is one of nature's most amazing moments. I can remember walking around outside as a kid in amazment. The silence is one of the coolest things and i still enjoy it as much as ever.

 

The quiet of a snowfall always amazes me, and is part of the beauty of it.  I also remember in 1985 after a big snow in Bellingham just before Thanksgiving, we walked downtown to buy something, and the city was so quiet, since cars were not driving around.  Loved that quiet.

[Jesse]

It was

I think a lot of it has to do with expectations. After the past few days of model trends I had pretty much written off the first 7-10 days of January as ridgy with generally high heights and maybe some warmish, splitty systems moving in if we’re lucky. Still could happen I suppose.

[Jesse]

Wonder why the local climate and past weather page on Portland NWS has been down so long.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Wonder why the local climate and past weather page on Portland NWS has been down so long.

 

Works for me.