March 2019 Weather Discussion in the PNW

[Jesse]

When I was there the roads had huge banks of snow on the sides. One pile of snow in a parking lot down by the river was 2-3x taller than me...

This pic was taken Downtown. He says there’s still a ton of snow out there.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Doing a cam tour earlier I was impressed with how deep a snow pack the eastern gorge and lower Columbia Basin has. 

[MossMan]

Doing a cam tour earlier I was impressed with how deep a snow pack the eastern gorge and lower Columbia Basin has.

I know the Tri Cities got hammered on Wednesday. I was supposed to there for work but I had a feeling things would be tricky that morning...sure enough the roads were impassable in some areas, schools were closed, Facebook friends posting about how insane it was there with the driving conditions. You know it’s a good storm when people that see more of this stuff than we do are talking about it!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

An interesting record I just ran across. Roseburg set their record min max today with a high of 40, breaking the previous record of 41 from 1962. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Down to 39 now at PDX. For them to have dropped 8 degrees with full sunshine prior to sunset is pretty impressive. Definitely a very cold low level airmass moving in. 

[Deweydog]

Down to 39 now at PDX. For them to have dropped 8 degrees with full sunshine prior to sunset is pretty impressive. Definitely a very cold low level airmass moving in.

The Euro showed somewhere getting to some specific temperature at some point.

[Omegaraptor]

These dewpoints are gross. My eyes are dry after 15 minutes of walking. Can’t wait for Monday...

[GHweatherChris]

These dewpoints are gross. My eyes are dry after 15 minutes of walking. Can’t wait for Monday...

It will be worse on Monday..

[TT-SEA]

SEA has dropped incredibly fast... from 48 at 3 p.m. to 45 now as it gets dark!

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Still looking good.

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Going to be well below zero in the Wallowa Valley tonight.

 

[TT-SEA]

Still looking good.

 

F1EF4DE2-2122-4A00-BD71-DD7ACB1556CD.jpeg

Really happy for you... sincerely.

[Jesse]

PDX down to 39, DP 22 with east winds gusting to 31mph.

[snow_wizard]

Buddy of mine is out in Hood River today where they are socked in with stratus and highs around 30. He sent me this pic. Looking pretty wintery out there.

 

2DB0A9DC-7547-4C6F-B805-A402E82009FA.png

 

I'm not thinking March when I see that.

 

It's looking very obvious this is going to be a major freezing east wind event for those of us in the outflow zones.  Crazy numbers even in parts of Eastern WA now.  I could easily see temps in the upper 20s (maybe mid 20s for Portland) with brisk east winds during the late night and early morning hours.  Never seen anything like that in March.

[Blizzard777]

My sincere apologies to anyone who was unintentionally misled by my typo. I have corrected the original post. Low of 26 at PDX today. WOW.

We may need to use the buddy system from now on to verify accuracy before posting. Just like the folks in the missiel silos!

[snow_wizard]

I know the Tri Cities got hammered on Wednesday. I was supposed to there for work but I had a feeling things would be tricky that morning...sure enough the roads were impassable in some areas, schools were closed, Facebook friends posting about how insane it was there with the driving conditions. You know it’s a good storm when people that see more of this stuff than we do are talking about it!

 

The Tri Cities is actually not a good place for snow normally speaking.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The Tri Cities is actually not a good place for snow normally speaking.

 

Yeah, they are at the bottom of the bowl there, pretty dry too.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I'm not thinking March when I see that.

 

It's looking very obvious this is going to be a major freezing east wind event for those of us in the outflow zones.  Crazy numbers even in parts of Eastern WA now.  I could easily see temps in the upper 20s (maybe mid 20s for Portland) with brisk east winds during the late night and early morning hours.  Never seen anything like that in March.

 

Very cold temps in Central and NE Oregon considering most places are still hanging onto a stratus deck. Places that get any kind of clearing are going to plummet. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Already down to -29 at Browning, MT.

[wx_statman]

Interestingly enough PDX has its earliest 80 on record about a week and a half after the 1947 reading.

 

Yeah, that was an interesting stretch. Lots of variability as the system was transitioning PDO phases, similar to the late 1970's. PDX torched that spring, but the switch flipped and we had one of our clammiest summers on record. Followed by decades of cold phase fun. 

[wx_statman]

Already down to -29 at Browning, MT.

 

Tonight will be interesting! Already -23 at Great Falls and -24 at Havre. 

[van city]

Getting colder as it gets darker. Weird day.

Indeed!

[HighlandExperience]

The Tri Cities is actually not a good place for snow normally speaking.

They have been doing well the last few years. Pretty amazing

[Phil]

Yeah, that was an interesting stretch. Lots of variability as the system was transitioning PDO phases, similar to the late 1970's. PDX torched that spring, but the switch flipped and we had one of our clammiest summers on record. Followed by decades of cold phase fun.

Interesting you mention that era. The slow drain of the Indo-Pacific warm pool (relatively speaking) out of the MC domain since 2013 is quite reminiscent of that period from 1939/40 to1944/45, where the +PDO/+PMM/broad z-cell regime established itself in a coupled fashion and slowly drained the IO/MC portion of the Warm Pool Heat Engine for several consecutive years. That eventually cooled the IO/western MC enough (relative to the WPAC) to abruptly tighten the Walker Cell starting in late 1946, which marked the inception of that -PDO/-ENSO era.

 

I’m not sure we’ll follow the same path this time (the Atlantic/WHEM Meridional Mode appears to be entering its cold mode now, unlike then when it was still warming) but the IO-WPAC gradient can only grow so much before some kind of phase change occurs.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

ICON brings some light snow to W. Oregon on Wednesday morning.

 

[MossMan]

31.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

31.

 

29.

[snow_wizard]

29.

 

25 ….. JK

[MossMan]

36 all of a sudden!

[MossMan]

38!!!!

[TT-SEA]

Down to 43 at SEA... where will it stop???

 

40 here.

[TT-SEA]

00Z GFS and FV3 totally dry again with mid-week system.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

00Z GFS and FV3 totally dry again with mid-week system.

And then the Canadian shows snow for puget sound during same time.

[Cloud]

Took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday and today to go for a jog at Lake Washington. Just wonderful and looking to take advantage of more days like this soon!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Yeah the GEM is worlds different than the GFS.

[HighlandExperience]

And then the Canadian shows snow for puget sound during same time.

Really is teasing us

[MossMan]

Looks like I will have just enough snow cover left in the backyard to officially say I have had snow cover for a month straight. Unless it happened when I was very young I do not recall ever having snow for this long other than in large piles.

[Guest CulverJosh]

Yeah, they are at the bottom of the bowl there, pretty dry too.

 

They do well with mid-valley lows... always have.

[Guest CulverJosh]

And I have a new name for the ICON.  I-WRONG model.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

And I have a new name for the ICON.  I-WRONG model.

 

Hey you asked me a question the other day and I wasn't able to answer at the time. It was if I get cold air from the gorge or the Cascade passes. The answer is actually neither, except in rare cases. Every couple years I will get strong offshore winds, in mountain wave/cross cascade type situations, but that is rare. Generally I am at the mercy of the airmass. Cold onshore flow is what really does the trick, anything with 500-1000mb thickness below 528 will be snow up here, even if temps are well into the 40s in the valley. 

 

I'm in a good radiational cooling spot too, but if flow is southerly and the airmass is mild I will not hang onto that cold air.