April 2019 Weather Discussion in the PNW

[TT-SEA]

Looks like SEA is up to .83 on the day now. 

 

Almost 3 inches there for the month now... all within the last week.   Normal for April is 3.54 inches.    

 

This pattern has been more anomalously wet for the foothill areas.   But even SEA has picked up almost the entire month's worth of rain in a week.  

[Front Ranger]

Who’s been feeding you reasonable pills lately?

Every once in awhile he lets it slip out.

[Front Ranger]

Looks like SEA is up to .83 on the day now.

 

Almost 3 inches there for the month now... all within the last week. Normal for April is 3.54 inches.

 

This pattern has been more anomalously wet for the foothill areas. But even SEA has picked up almost the entire month's worth of rain in a week.

SEA was much wetter than most the region the past 12 hours, though. CZ parked right over them.

[TT-SEA]

SEA was much wetter than most the region the past 12 hours, though. CZ parked right over them.

 

Great.  

 

Nice to see them catching up.  

[Jesse]

I don’t want it all the time, but I really don’t mind two weeks of “gloom” (maybe a bit longer judging by model trends) in the springtime. Just a dark, moody aspect of our climate. I think is a certain beauty to brooding skies and a newly green landscape.

[TacomaWaWx]

SEA was much wetter than most the region the past 12 hours, though. CZ parked right over them.

Wonder how long the streak of measurable precip will go at sea tac. Rains going to end eventually but I’d like as much as possible for snow in the cascades. Either way doesn’t look like a crisis is unfolding we’re within 20%-25% of normal snowpack wise in the mountains, nothing like 14-15 which featured snow pack precentages in the 10-15% range at this time vs 70-90% roughly this year in the WA cascades. Good month of April this year for rains hoping for a little sunshine soon though atleast one of these days in between. Rain has been really nice brought everything back to life around here.

[Front Ranger]

Still some catching up to do for western WA especially. 

 

[El_Nina]

February was actually above average precip wise for the Portland area. We saw about 4” of rain.

Interesting, I'll check how much I got here for that month.

[TacomaWaWx]

Still some catching up to do for western WA especially.

 

YearPNormWRCC-NW.png

The past week or so has definitely helped here should be some more rainy days coming up too.

[Front Ranger]

Great.  

 

Nice to see them catching up.  

 

Relative to normal, they are now easily ahead of Seattle WFO and OLM.

[TT-SEA]

Relative to normal, they are now easily ahead of Seattle WFO and OLM.

 

Great.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Yeah we were well above average for precip here in February. 12.22" normal is a little over 9". 

 

It was the 2nd wettest February on record for Central Oregon.

 

10.58" now for April. 1.16" yesterday, 0.08" since midnight.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Snow pack in the John Day basin is now 196% of normal.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like the Willamette at Salem is cresting at 27.31' this morning. Pretty impressive April crest.

[TT-SEA]

Still some catching up to do for western WA especially. 

 

YearPNormWRCC-NW.png

 

 

Never argued that it has not been dry this year.   In fact... that is why I fully expected it to turn wet in April.    

 

But it would not surprise me if 2019 ends up drier than normal in up here.  

[Jesse]

Washington snow pack.pdf

 

Oregon snowpack.pdf

 

Nice to see the Mount Hood basin up to 91% SWE, and the Lower Columbia basin in the Cascades of SW Washington also up to 91%.

 

Really the worst areas are in the central and northern Washington Cascades right now, which are hovering around 70%. But all of these numbers should improve the next few days with another cold trough moving in over the weekend.

[snow_wizard]

 

I missed it.    But then it would be hard to tell the difference since it has been pouring here all week.

 

The rain has been relentless up here for the last 8 days.    And it has been basically non-stop since Monday.    Same thing happened last year in early April.   

 

It gets silly like this here at times here... maybe 1-2 times a year when it will rain for 5-7 days without stopping.   Just have to grin and bear it... its the price of admission.    

 

Anecdotally... it also seems like we are rewarded nicely after these periods.     

 

I sure hope so.  This is starting to cut into time we should be able to get out and start enjoying outdoor activities.  This weekend has turned to utter crap now.  Looks like I'll have to get out and get stuff done regardless of how crappy it is or how wet I have to get.  Spring is hands down my least favorite season around here.

[snow_wizard]

Washington snow pack.pdf

 

Oregon snowpack.pdf

 

Nice to see the Mount Hood basin up to 91% SWE, and the Lower Columbia basin in the Cascades of SW Washington also up to 91%.

 

Really the worst areas are in the central and northern Washington Cascades right now, which are hovering around 70%. But all of these numbers should improve the next few days with another cold trough moving in over the weekend.

 

I seriously doubt we will have any issues with water this year.  I was never worried about it in the least.

[Omegaraptor]

Sun is out now.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Sun is out now.

 

Doubt I will see it up here today. Would be nice since I took the day off to try and do yard work thinking it was our best chance at a nice day this week.

[Jesse]

I seriously doubt we will have any issues with water this year. I was never worried about it in the least.

Glad to hear it Tim.

 

We have actually had a couple awful warm season droughts over the last several years, so glad we may be avoiding that this year.

[Front Ranger]

Never argued that it has not been dry this year.   In fact... that is why I fully expected it to turn wet in April.    

 

But it would not surprise me if 2019 ends up drier than normal in up here.  

 

 I was not trying to prove you wrong. Just providing contextual information.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Glad to hear it Tim.

 

We have actually had a couple awful warm season droughts over the last several years, so glad we may be avoiding that this year.

 

I don't think it has been quite as bad further north though...At least that is what Tim has told me.

[TT-SEA]

 I was not trying to prove you wrong. Just providing contextual information.

 

 

Flatironing!

[Jesse]

I don't think it has been quite as bad further north though...At least that is what Tim has told me.

There is no such thing as drought north of the 46th parallel.

[TT-SEA]

There is no such thing as drought north of the 46th parallel.

 

 

Definitely has been different up here than in Oregon the last couple years.   It seems like you are mocking that reality.    There is no comparison really.  

[Jesse]

Definitely has been different up here than in Oregon the last couple years. It seems like you are mocking that reality. There is no comparison really.

Dead trees and precip deficit maps tell me otherwise.

[TT-SEA]

3rd day in a row of snow in Minnesota... this is a live view from my wife's hometown.

 

[TT-SEA]

Dead trees and precip deficit maps tell me otherwise.

 

Right Jesse... it was exactly the same as Oregon.   

 

Except the area north of Olympia was never in a drought while most of Oregon was in moderate to severe drought.

[James Jones]

I sure hope so.  This is starting to cut into time we should be able to get out and start enjoying outdoor activities.  This weekend has turned to utter crap now.  Looks like I'll have to get out and get stuff done regardless of how crappy it is or how wet I have to get.  Spring is hands down my least favorite season around here.

 

It's April 12th... climo is not exactly in favor of dry and sunny weather at this point. Way too early to say it's cutting into our window and we're also coming off a very dry and sunny March.

 

You seem to have oddly unrealistic expectations for this climate.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

It's April 12th... climo is not exactly in favor of dry and sunny weather at this point. Way too early to say it's cutting into our window and we're also coming off a very dry and sunny March.

 

You seem to have oddly unrealistic expectations for this climate.

 

This.

[Jesse]

It's April 12th... climo is not exactly in favor of dry and sunny weather at this point. Way too early to say it's cutting into our window and we're also coming off a very dry and sunny March.

 

You seem to have oddly unrealistic expectations for this climate.

I like it when rational voices are heard here.

[TacomaWaWx]

It's April 12th... climo is not exactly in favor of dry and sunny weather at this point. Way too early to say it's cutting into our window and we're also coming off a very dry and sunny March.

 

You seem to have oddly unrealistic expectations for this climate.

kind of why the saying around here is summer doesn’t start til the 4th of july (not always true). Generally any time from October 1-April 30 don’t expect many days to do much outside in the PNW.

[Jesse]

kind of why the saying around here is summer doesn’t start til the 4th of july (not always true). Generally any time from October 1-April 30 don’t expect many days to do much outside in the PNW.

This is the other extreme. Also not true.

[TacomaWaWx]

This is the other extreme. Also not true.

...How so? It doesn’t usually rain 50%-75% of the days inbetween October and april?

[Jesse]

Right Jesse... it was exactly the same as Oregon.

 

Except the area north of Olympia was never in a drought while most of Oregon was in moderate to severe drought.

Never said it was the same as Oregon. But clearly there have been a lot of anomalously hot and dry warm seasons up there lately too. The impact on vegetation and the precip/drought maps have reflected this well, even though it hasn’t been as severe as down here. And I really don’t care how completely normal your little microclimate was last summer. I am talking about western Washington as a whole.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

12z is decent. Not to wet, variable, cool at times. 

[Jesse]

...How so? It doesn’t usually rain 50%-75% of the days inbetween October and april?

25-50% of the time to go outside (assuming you are allergic to water and simply can’t leave the house unless conditions are anything but perfect) is still pretty good.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Even up here in the foothills June 15 - October 15 are reliably dry. 

 

Mid-April through mid-June is usually decent, though there can be some stretches of steady rain in that stretch.

[Omegaraptor]

...How so? It doesn’t usually rain 50%-75% of the days inbetween October and april?

I can normally do a lot outside in Oct-April (especially Oct and April) even discounting skiing.

 

If it drizzles 0.02” at night it’s counted as a rain day. If an AR dumps 1.5” over the entire day it’s also counted as one rain day. To say we’re consistently waterlogged is incorrect.

 

We don’t get extreme cold either unlike points east of the Rockies.