PNW April 2023 Weather Discussion

[Omegaraptor]

Since Hunga Tonga blew it feels like our seasons have been pushed back a month and a half or so. Weird.

[Cold Snap]

Rain/Snow mix here!

[The Blob]

The neighbor still has frozen hail from yesterday on their roof.

[Cascadia_Wx]

32 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

Since Hunga Tonga blew it feels like our seasons have been pushed back a month and a half or so. Weird.

Yeah, a summer that starts in late June like last year is pretty much unheard of around here without some sort of major volcanic influence. Normally it’s chugging along by early May here in Red Bluff.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Had some wet flurries this morning very briefly but that area of showers sort of split apart around SE Clark County. Still very cool to see snow falling in April at all. Still just 39, and mostly cloudy.

[Omegaraptor]

7 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Yeah, a summer that starts in late June like last year is pretty much unheard of around here without some sort of major volcanic influence. Normally it’s chugging along by early May here in Red Bluff.

 

Another October like this would make for some nice boat trips!

[MossMan]

55 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

Snowing downtown

That’s it…I’m packing up the family and 3 dogs and moving into an apartment downtown since I’m getting skunked up here. Who needs a quiet 5 wooded acres when we could be watching the snowfall in the city!! 

[Cascadia_Wx]

11 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

 

Another October like this would make for some nice boat trips!

The cold November that followed definitely felt like something that should have started in mid September to me. Oh well I’ll just blame Tonga because I’m low key mad we’re having another cold spring, even though what we’re seeing right now is well within the envelope of historical norms around here and not even close to matching the warmth we saw last summer, which started pretty much on time but stayed about two months late.

Edited April 3 by Cascadia_Wx

[Cascadia_Wx]

I thought yesterdays high of 46 at PDX seemed pretty chilly for April, so I did some digging and it looks like it’s tied for 6th place for coldest April highs there. Although granted it’s a ten way tie. It was also their coldest April high in 20 years (since 2003).

If they had been just a degree colder it would have put yesterday in a different league altogether though. There have only been five April days in history with a high of 45 or lower there, and the last one was in 1975.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

3 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

I thought yesterdays high of 46 at PDX seemed pretty chilly for April, so I did some digging and it looks like it’s tied for 6th place for coldest April highs there. Although granted it’s a ten way tie. It was also their coldest April high in 20 years (since 2003).

If they had been just a degree colder it would have put yesterday in a different league altogether though. There have only been five April days in history with a high of 45 or lower there, and the last one was in 1975.

There is 1975 popping up again. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Did some people have snow overnight? It rained a little bit here, but we never had any snow mixing in. It was just all rain. Looks like this area got down close to freezing at 33F so it’s weird that there wasn’t any snow mixing in.

[Cascadia_Wx]

1 minute ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

There is 1975 popping up again. 

Would love to go back to something like that cold phase.

[ShawniganLake]

Ground is still white with hail from yesterday. 43F currently. 

[Rubus Leucodermis]

21 minutes ago, MossMan said:

That’s it…I’m packing up the family and 3 dogs and moving into an apartment downtown since I’m getting skunked up here. Who needs a quiet 5 wooded acres when we could be watching the snowfall in the city!! 

Maybe move to Eugene. It is relatively easy for them to get April snow compared to the North Sound (they got some just this morning).

[ShawniganLake]

Drought becoming a reality in BC now

[Cascadia_Wx]

10 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Did some people have snow overnight? It rained a little bit here, but we never had any snow mixing in. It was just all rain. Looks like this area got down close to freezing at 33F so it’s weird that there wasn’t any snow mixing in.

Is it possible you weren’t looking outside when it snowed? I made a point of checking out the window a lot when I saw that band of showers moving into the metro area early this morning, but if I hadn’t I would’ve had no way of knowing there were snowflakes at any point.

[Cold Snap]

Only at a high of 36 for the day so far and there’s snow mixing in which is pretty impressive for a day in April especially when it’s almost noon.

[Cascadia_Wx]

31 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

I thought yesterdays high of 46 at PDX seemed pretty chilly for April, so I did some digging and it looks like it’s tied for 6th place for coldest April highs there. Although granted it’s a ten way tie. It was also their coldest April high in 20 years (since 2003).

If they had been just a degree colder it would have put yesterday in a different league altogether though. There have only been five April days in history with a high of 45 or lower there, and the last one was in 1975.

I’ve been getting in the habit of looking at VUO more as well, since it is less UHI polluted, has a much longer POR (back to 1891) and it is my hometown.

They SCORED a high of 45 yesterday, which is tied for 7th coldest April high on record there (14-way tie). Aside from also seeing a high of 45 last year on 4/12, you would have to go all the way back to 4/18/1976 to see another one. This would also be the first time they’ve seen back to back Aprils with highs of 45 or lower since 1975/76.

A side note, their all time coldest April high was an impressive 39 set back on 4/1/1936.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Wow, the warm spell pretty much completely collapsed on the 12z Euro. First Euro run to show that. It has by far been the more bullish of the models with the warmth this weekend/early next week.

Saturday now looks cool and wet. Looks like Easter Sunday  could make a run at 60 in the Portland area if clouds from the system to the north hold off long enough, then it’s back downhill starting Monday. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

4 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Wow, the warm spell pretty much completely collapsed on the 12z Euro. First Euro run to show that. It has by far been the more bullish of the models with the warmth this weekend/early next week.

Saturday now looks cool and wet. Looks like Easter Sunday  could make a run at 60 in the Portland area if clouds from the system to the north hold off long enough, then it’s back downhill starting Monday. 

Yeah I think 850mb temps on the 12z GFS ensemble now top out around +4C on Sunday. Which is pretty in line with the operational. A couple days ago the ensemble mean was up above +10C and some operational runs were north of +15C. It got stuck thinking it was the mid 2010s. 

[Skagit Weather]

50 minutes ago, ShawniganLake said:

Drought becoming a reality in BC now

Oh, cool (the info, not the actual drought)! I didn't know they had Canada on that site as well.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Just now, Skagit Weather said:

Oh, cool (the info, not the actual drought)! I didn't know they had Canada on that site as well.

Hopefully they make up big time in May and June. I’ve always thought those were normally the wettest months up there anyway. Especially in the BC interior.

[Cascadia_Wx]

The last frame of the 12z Euro shows an elongated trough digging well toward California again. That worm still seems pretty happy with where it’s at for now.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

1 minute ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

The last frame of the 12z Euro shows an elongated trough digging well toward California again. That worm still seems pretty happy with where it’s at for now.

Hail falling on the weather deck here in N. Salem. Things looking very bubbly out there. 

 

[Cascadia_Wx]

3 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Hail falling on the weather deck here in N. Salem. Things looking very bubbly out there. 

 

God, Jesus and Jehovah are all fighting so hard for us this year.

[Phishy Wx]

1 hour ago, ShawniganLake said:

Drought becoming a reality in BC now

smoke not too far behind. ugh

[Phishy Wx]

29 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Wow, the warm spell pretty much completely collapsed on the 12z Euro. First Euro run to show that. It has by far been the more bullish of the models with the warmth this weekend/early next week.

Saturday now looks cool and wet. Looks like Easter Sunday  could make a run at 60 in the Portland area if clouds from the system to the north hold off long enough, then it’s back downhill starting Monday. 

they were talking 72 next Monday yesterday, now talking 69

[Skagit Weather]

Here are the updated snowfall maps for WA (and part of OR) and CA for this winter so far (as of April 1). Kind of impressive to see how large of a chunk of the Sierra Nevada has received over 50' (600"). Normally Mt. Baker is the big winner in the lower 48 for snowfall (and it still holds the state record this year at 727"), but a point near Mammoth in California is estimated to have picked up 964" so far this winter. So not quite at Mt. Baker Ski area's annual record (1,140" in '98-99), but close. Of course during that 1998-99 season it was estimated that Mt. Baker itself picked up 1800"+ of snow so the Sierra is nowhere near that value.

[Cascadia_Wx]

1 minute ago, Phishy Wx said:

they were talking 72 next Monday yesterday, now talking 69

Oooof. Drought. Smoke. Graupel.

[Phishy Wx]

2 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Oooof. Drought. Smoke. Graupel.

the Trifecta

[Omegaraptor]

Nice spring afternoon here. Sun is out with big puffy clouds surrounding.

[Meatyorologist]

[Deweydog]

HAIL

[Cascadia_Wx]

Just now, Deweydog said:

HAIL

Wanted to take a moment to thank you for making those weekend outdoor plans, Matt.

[Deweydog]

1 minute ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Wanted to take a moment to thank you for making those weekend outdoor plans, Matt.

Are you coming???

You never answered my evite!

[Cascadia_Wx]

4 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

Are you coming???

You never answered my evite!

Not sure what kind of event you have planned but the easter bunny with ball gag costume link you sent me looked a little small.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Massive changes on the 12z EPS. Gotta hand it to the GFS it completely lead the way on this one.

[Deweydog]

11 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Not sure what kind of event you have planned but the easter bunny with ball gag costume link you sent me looked a little small.

Sh*t, I’m a mess. That was supposed to go to your mom. You were supposed to get the pastel assless chaps with the tiny pictures of Pat Robertson all over them. 

[Omegaraptor]

Hail!

[TT-SEA]

1 hour ago, Omegaraptor said:

Nice spring afternoon here. Sun is out with big puffy clouds surrounding.

Looks like the cherry blossoms are about at peak bloom at UW. 

[FroYoBro]

Looks like some strong showers are heading towards the PDX area!

 

46 here with a rain and hail shower. 

[Meatyorologist]

Lots of fun things to look at today on satellite. My two favorites are the rapid convective buildup east of the Cascades, and a sea breeze interacting with that cumulus field along the NW WA coast.

[Phishy Wx]

I reckon we'll get some more GRAUPEL

[Meatyorologist]

47/39 here with partly sunny skies. Atmosphere is recovering well in advance of more thunderstorm chances this evening.

[Meatyorologist]

Getting bubbly

[Ken in Wood Village]

With the heating of the day, showers are starting to pop up. I wouldn't be surprised to see lightning and hear thunder. 

 

The first radar is a wide view of the showers. The second one is a closer look around Portland. You can see a shower forming up in the Vancouver area. As you can see, it developed really fast. I expect this to continue the rest of the day into the evening hours. 

 

I didn't see a whole lot of showers in the Seattle area but that could change. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Really active day. Got down to Albany about 30 minutes ago and it was 39 degrees with some fresh hail on the ground. 

[Ken in Wood Village]

I'm outside and saw these clouds. The second picture you can see what looks like maybe a hail core. It's not doing anything here at the moment. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Kind of wild how the pattern change totally flopped. After tonight and tomorrow morning I think we are probably done with snow here, but geez. Wow. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Northern Oregon Cascade Foothills-Northern Oregon Cascades-
Cascade Foothills in Lane County-Cascades in Lane County-
Upper Hood River Valley-South Washington Cascades-
South Washington Cascade Foothills-
Including the cities of Silver Falls State Park, Government Camp,
Santiam Pass, McKenzie Pass, Willamette Pass, Parkdale,
Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center, Mount St. Helens,
Wind River Valley, and Ariel
137 PM PDT Mon Apr 3 2023

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM PDT TUESDAY
ABOVE 1500 FEET...

* WHAT...Snow above 1500 feet. Additional snow accumulations of
  1 to 6 inches.

* WHERE...Portions of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington.

* WHEN...Until 11 AM PDT Tuesday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult.