February Snowfalls 2/10-2/12, Part III & IV

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Snowing hard here. Nice snow storm on the 18 nam for puget sound thursday afternoon

 

'Twould be nice for my visitor from California (San Francisco, lived there all his life, has basically never seen snow before) to have more than melting slushy remains on the ground to see. Then again, if it doesn't materialize, I can't really complain given how epic this month has already began.

 

All that said, the overall cold pattern looking to stay around means this month has a very good chance for this to land the No. 4 spot in all-time snowiest months for Seattle. It's currently only a few inches shy right now; it would only take a stray minor snowfall here and there to get to No. 4. Nos. 1 through 3 are so very much snowier that I doubt any of them will be displaced.

 

Not surprised it's still coming down as snow where you are. You have both altitude and the Hood Canal effect working in your favor.

[Deweydog]

I made a post about that last night (I know everything gets buried so quick these days!). The 7 straight are a February record.

It’s hard to believe it hasn’t happened before considering 1-50 had a stretch of 13 straight which ended on 2-5 with an average high of 25.6.

 

Testament to how ridiculous that period was and how definitive a turn we make around the start of this month.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Many people snowed in over here for real. Plows have not even been up in this area much at all and if you don't have a lifted truck with tall tires you ain't going anywhere. There was a guy stuck on main road in a Subaru with chains on all 4 got high centered.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

If I move to Indiana in the next few years hopefully I will get to experience something like Western Washington has experienced in this north/south event.

[North_County]

Many people snowed in over here for real. Plows have not even been up in this area much at all and if you don't have a lifted truck with tall tires you ain't going anywhere. There was a guy stuck on main road in a Subaru with chains on all 4 got high centered.

That happened here in February 2017. We had close to 3 feet of snow, and once the ruts started working/melting to street level, there was a mountain of snow in the middle that was impossible to get through without high clearance. The chief of police at the time lived two houses down, and told me not to bother trying to dig my car out of the driveway because I wasn't making it out of town anyway.

[bainbridgekid]

Really interesting blog post here about Port Gamble Bay freezing over this week. The author says they have lived there 40 years and never seen it happen.

 

https://skunkbayweather.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-great-gamble-bay-freeze-over.html

 

[BLI snowman]

It’s hard to believe it hasn’t happened before considering 1-50 had a stretch of 13 straight which ended on 2-5 with an average high of 25.6.

 

Testament to how ridiculous that period was and how definitive a turn we make around the start of this month.

 

It's largely a product of happenstance. 1950 was rarefied air, a similarly rare stretch in 1936 (literally the year that Portland airport records begin) produced a stretch of 14 straight sub-40 highs from February 7-20. And that was a mere seven years after a 16 day stretch from January 27-February 11, 1929.

[Katzen]

Back down to 34 from 36 and has started snowing fairly hard again

 

hills between Renton and Issaquah - 630 ft

[Jesse]

It's largely a product of happenstance. 1950 was rarefied air, a similarly rare stretch in 1936 (literally the year that Portland airport records begin) produced a stretch of 14 straight sub-40 highs from February 7-20. And that was a mere seven years after a 16 day stretch from January 27-February 11, 1929.

Yeah, I think the abrupt first week of February turning point tends to be overstated, partially thanks to happenstance regarding timing of events and airport era record-keeping, as you said. In reality the fading of our window of opportunity for persistent “deep” cold is a little more gradual. Nice to see an event like last week extend the airport era window into something a little more representative of our historical climate capabilities.

[mtep]

What are some good indicators of how much snow already on the ground will melt with the slight warm up on thu/fri? 

[Deweydog]

Yeah, I think the abrupt first week of February turning point tends to be overstated, partially thanks to happenstance regarding timing of events and airport era record-keeping, as you said. In reality the fading of our window of opportunity for persistent “deep” cold is a little more gradual. Nice to see an event like last week extend the airport era window into something a little more representative of our historical climate capabilities.

I think 2-14 was leaps and bounds better of an illustration. A true outflow event slightly removed from the typical climo window which played out about how you’d expect much closer to the solstice.

[Snowman5678]

Back to all snow NE of Redmond at 34.1 Makes it a bit more pleasant to shovel in versus the rain.

[Jesse]

I think 2-14 was leaps and bounds better of an illustration. A true outflow event slightly removed from the typical climo window which played out about how you’d expect much closer to the solstice.

They both were interesting in their own way. 2/14 was obviously a more extreme, impactful and memorable (for Portland metro) example. But the fact that we were able to string together a week of 30s this month without much in the way of persistent cloud cover, widespread snowpack or strong offshore flow is sigfinicant on its own.

[Phil]

Hawaii..severe thunderstorms, lowest elevation snowfall on record, and a 191mph wind gust.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/weather/2019/02/11/historic-storm-hurls-huge-waves-mph-winds-hawaii-rare-snow-hits-maui/?__twitter_impression=true

 

[Esquimalt]

18Z GFS a tad too warm for snow for the vast majority of areas on thu/fri....

[Phil]

Really interesting blog post here about Port Gamble Bay freezing over this week. The author says they have lived there 40 years and never seen it happen.

 

https://skunkbayweather.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-great-gamble-bay-freeze-over.html

 

CO2-induced ice.

[Geos]

Snowing pretty good again here after a rain/snow mix earlier.

 

As much as I thoroughly love the snow, being on a long, windy hill that doesn't get treatment from city or county crews and having nearly 2ft of snow fall on it is a pain in the a**.

Same here, snowing again. I suspect as we get towards 4pm it will start sticking again. People are trying to get out here but most arent getting more than a 100 ft and getting stuck.

[MossMan]

18Z GFS a tad too warm for snow for the vast majority of areas on thu/fri....

Trust the NAM!

[joelgombiner]

Massive warm-up in southeast Washington. Walla walla jumped from 25 to 45 between 5 and 7 AM as southerlies kicked in.

[Geos]

Snowing giant flakes again.

[seattleweatherguy]

Snowing giant flakes again.

I see them too my power still out though

[Blizzard777]

Hawaii..severe thunderstorms, lowest elevation snowfall on record, and a 191mph wind gust.https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/weather/2019/02/11/historic-storm-hurls-huge-waves-mph-winds-hawaii-rare-snow-hits-maui/?__twitter_impression=true

Just amazing!

I was watching a circuit of live streaming cameras there all week and enjoyed! Crazy

https://explore.org/livecams/hawaii/hawaii-waimea-bay-cam

Waimea Bay will load up. Was my favorite because a few weeks ago my brother and I were playing in those shorebreak waves.

Down below that page other cams with sound too.

Our Kona low....tanks!

[BLI snowman]

Just 15 miles to the NW, I've had 4 times as much rain as PDX with this storm.

 

Certainly some weirdly pronounced gradients this week, after they had 4 times the amount of snow as me over the weekend.

[Blizzard777]

Just 15 miles to the NW, I've had 4 times as much rain as PDX with this storm.

 

Certainly some weirdly pronounced gradients this week, after they had 4 times the amount of snow as me over the weekend.

Some flooding in Kalama and Rainer Oregon currently in progress

[Jesse]

Getting a positive splat test on the windshield here in east Vancouver. 38 degrees.

[Geos]

Temp down to 34º in DT Everett. Getting some rain and snow mix.

How warm did you get?

[Deweydog]

They both were interesting in their own way. 2/14 was obviously a more extreme, impactful and memorable (for Portland metro) example. But the fact that we were able to string together a week of 30s this month without much in the way of persistent cloud cover, widespread snowpack or strong offshore flow is sigfinicant on its own.

I suppose. Snow cover obviously helped a bit as did some well-timed cloud cover on Monday, Friday and Sunday.

[jakerepp]

Looks like precip has stopped for now and 36*. 

[Katzen]

Holding at 34 degrees and still snowing hard - and apparently my son loves the snow as much as I do 

 

[Geos]

It rose up to 34.2° here but now back to 33.6°.

[FroYoBro]

Back edge of the band finally coming through now. Stayed right between 40-41 degrees during the entire thing. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Tims getting slammed

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Snow is almost stopped here for first time in 28hrs. Crazy.

[MossMan]

January 27th...”WORST WINTER EVER!!” FORKS!

February 12th...”BEST WINTER EVER!!” (For Washington State)

[Deweydog]

Back edge of the band finally coming through now. Stayed right between 40-41 degrees during the entire thing.

That be some chilly rain!

[Sometimesdylan]

All rain here in mid Everett. This whole event reminds me of home! Love it

[Deweydog]

January 27th...”WORST WINTER EVER!!” FORKS!

February 12th...”BEST WINTER EVER!!” (For Washington State)

F*ck this climate!

[TigerWoodsLibido]

If the same type of event was impacting PDX and the Willamette Valley instead of SEA then TWC wouldn’t give a . To them Oregon may as well be Siberia.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

Did anyone last night talk about the Euro weeklies?

 

[TT-SEA]

Many people snowed in over here for real. Plows have not even been up in this area much at all and if you don't have a lifted truck with tall tires you ain't going anywhere. There was a guy stuck on main road in a Subaru with chains on all 4 got high centered.

Its complete insanity in North Bend. We just got out and are in Issaquah in beautiful rain. Then to hotel by airport... and then Hawaii.

 

It is so claustrophobic in North Bend. Our road down is a tunnel with cars abandoned in places. They are just mounds of course. Got to down I-90 exit and there semis stuck everywhere. State patrol trying to coordinate but it's just so deep in the roads. Really thought we might not make it out.

 

We went by the entrance to the neighborhood right off exit 31 and it was not plowed at all. Had to be over 2 feet deep in the road with cars abandoned everywhere and people were just standing around.

 

Going to be a slow recovery.