Pacific Northwest Weather - May 2023

[awright-31]

My goodness, what an impressive lightning show in SE Thurston County. Going for several hours now. This is the best thunderstorm outbreak we’ve had since the Microburst on 5/4/17.

[MossMan]

No booms yet but a cool sky! Currently 67 degrees. 

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Rapid snowmelt caused a debris flow that took out a bridge and stranded some tourists at Mt. St. Helens.

 

[Slushy Inch]

Lose count of the number of lightning strikes I’ve seen.

[The Winter Warlock]

Sitting on the patio, waiting for the arrival.

[TT-SEA]

Awesome lightning show here... but not much rain unfortunately. 

[TacomaWx]

Have been watching the storms to the south and north all night. Storm up north has given me some amazing photos that I’ll post later. Not as close to the storms as last time but it’s still been awesome. Also dropped from 89 to 63 now! 

[Cold Snap]

Haven’t really seen much lightning though I have been gaming with friends and I don’t necessarily think I have the best view of the storm that’s over carnation. I think clouds might be blocking the view a bit.

[Slushy Inch]

17 minutes ago, The Winter Warlock said:

Sitting on the patio, waiting for the arrival.

Oh you are in a great location. Closest strike I got was still at least 30 miles away.

[the_convergence_zone]

Showers are still firing on the leading edge of the boundary and gobbling up whatever residual CAPE is still around. I find it pretty funny that the convection wanted nothing to do with Seattle when it felt like the Midwest outside earlier today but of course they are perfectly happy to form on top of the 60 degree marine layer. 

[Slushy Inch]

3 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

Showers are still firing on the leading edge of the boundary and gobbling up whatever residual CAPE is still around. I find it pretty funny that the convection wanted nothing to do with Seattle when it felt like the Midwest outside earlier today but of course they are perfectly happy to form on top of the 60 degree marine layer. 

Marine layer displaces air and gets it moving up I think. We needed it for anything.

[MossMan]

Finally some flashes and distant rumblings. 

[RentonHill]

Yeeeuuhh I hear some booms out there!!

[Hawksfan2008]

Pretty dynamic first day with the weather station.  What a ️ show that was.

[Slushy Inch]

2 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

Yeeeuuhh I hear some booms out there!!

Thunderstorms jumped over me just to produce lightning next to Seattle.

[Olive1010]

Bro we havent had much of lightning and thunderstorms here in rock creek or just west of portland. Any t storms tomorrow?

[Cold Snap]

I love how when I think this is going to be a bust I start up a long game and then the peak of the thunderstorms happens during it lol. Still saw some nice flashes out the window though.

[ShawniganLake]

A touch warmer here today. Topped out at 92.5F.  
 

seems like any convection will stay well south of here. 

[RentonHill]

3 minutes ago, Slushy Inch said:

Thunderstorms jumped over me just to produce lightning next to Seattle.

I’m gonna get jumped or nothing too. Got played!!  Guess I have to water tomorrow

[Chewbacca Defense]

Soccer game went ahead, I figured out that they cancel games when the heat index is 91+ (keep in mind its an over 30 league with a respectable portion of the league being in their 50's and 60's (even a few 70's).  Heat index was 89, when I checked before I left the house, and It was about 88 at the start of the game, and was 79 when we finished up at 8pm.

Back here at the homestead, we started off the day at 56, topped out at 89, and currently sitting at 73.  A warm breeze is kicking up, actually felt pretty good.

[Olive1010]

I was at a baseball game at tigard, and i left this at my house. Timelapse of a dissipating storm. 4:02pm-8:12pm

[Slushy Inch]

2 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

I’m gonna get jumped or nothing too. Got played!!  Guess I have to water tomorrow

You’re in Renton right? I see a shower strengthening a little bit.

[Skagit Weather]

Ended up with a high of 84F here today. That's warmer than every day last summer except for one day in June, one day in August, and a couple days at the end of July. Most years that would be my max temp for the year, but we're only in May so I wonder what the summer will bring...

[TacomaWx]

Action may be fading tonight but still saw a lot of distant bolts here. 

[RentonHill]

3 minutes ago, Slushy Inch said:

You’re in Renton right? I see a shower strengthening a bit.

[MossMan]

Raindrops as I am sitting on the deck watching the sporadic lightning. Distant Thunder, frogs, raindrops, 65 degrees…One interesting mid May evening! 
 

Oh and the bats were having a feeding frenzy at dusk this evening! 

Edited May 16 by MossMan

[Slushy Inch]

2 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

I know shocking! 

[ShawniganLake]

Fire situation up north is getting pretty desperate now.  The entire city of Fort St. John is on evacuation alert. 21,000 people. 

[Hawksfan2008]

Was about to settle in for the night but  

[Slushy Inch]

4 minutes ago, Hawksfan2008 said:

Was about to settle in for the night but  

I bet on it dissipating as soon as it comes of the mountains.

[MossMan]

Wet deck! 

[MossMan]

Happy Blessings! 

[SnowySeeker50]

Raining and 63 degrees. The cool breeze feels great

[ShawniganLake]

Just looked it up and the record high for today at Shawnigan Lake was only 80F.  So we cleared that by a good 10F or so. 

[ShawniganLake]

Weather summary
for British Columbia
issued by Environment Canada
at 6:05 p.m. PDT Monday 15 May 2023.

Discussion.

The following areas will have set a daily maximum temperature record 
on Monday May 15, 2023: 

Abbotsford Area (Abbotsford A) 
Preliminary new record of 31.6 
Old record of 30.2 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1944 

Agassiz Area (Agassiz RCS) 
Preliminary new record of 33.2 
Old record of 32.0 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1889 

Bella Bella Area (Bella Bella) 
Preliminary new record of 30.1 
Old record of 25.0 set in 2014 
Records in this area have been kept since 1977 

Blue River Area (Blue River CS) 
Preliminary new record of 32.0 
Old record of 30.0 set in 1973 
Records in this area have been kept since 1946 

Burns Lake Area (Burns Lake Decker Lake) 
Preliminary new record of 31.9 
Old record of 25.6 set in 1959 
Records in this area have been kept since 1949 

Cache Creek Area (Ashcroft) 
Preliminary new record of 35.0 
Old record of 33.0 set in 2018 
Records in this area have been kept since 1944 

Clearwater Area (Clearwater Auto) 
Preliminary new record of 34.0 
Old record of 33.3 set in 1939 
Records in this area have been kept since 1913 

Clinton Area (Clinton RCS) 
Preliminary new record of 28.8 
Old record of 27.0 set in 2018 
Records in this area have been kept since 1974 

Comox Area (Comox A) 
Preliminary new record of 30.1 
Old record of 26.5 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1914 

Dawson Creek Area (Dawson Creek A) 
Preliminary new record of 31.1 
Old record of 27.8 set in 1959 
Records in this area have been kept since 1926 

Fort St. John Area (Fort St John Airport) 
Preliminary new record of 31.0 
Old record of 27.8 set in 1959 
Records in this area have been kept since 1910 

Kamloops Area (Kamloops Aut) 
Preliminary new record of 32.2 
Old record of 31.1 set in 1924 
Records in this area have been kept since 1890 

Kelowna Area (Kelowna UBCO) 
Preliminary new record of 32.1 
Old record of 31.3 set in 2018 
Records in this area have been kept since 1899 

Lillooet Area (Lillooet) 
Preliminary new record of 34.4 
Old record of 33.9 set in 1925 
Records in this area have been kept since 1917 

Lytton Area (Lytton RCS) 
Preliminary new record of 36.5 
Old record of 33.9 set in 1949 
Records in this area have been kept since 1921 

Mackenzie Area (Mackenzie Airport Auto) 
Preliminary new record of 32.4 
Old record of 26.7 set in 1973 
Records in this area have been kept since 1971 

Merritt Area (Merritt) 
Preliminary new record of 32.9 
Old record of 32.0 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1918 

Nakusp Area (Nakusp CS) 
Preliminary new record of 30.0 
Old record of 28.8 set in 2018 
Records in this area have been kept since 1966 

Pemberton Area (Pemberton Airport CS) 
Preliminary new record of 35.9 
Old record of 30.0 set in 1925 
Records in this area have been kept since 1908 

Pitt Meadows Area (Pitt Meadows CS) 
Preliminary new record of 33.1 
Old record of 30.0 set in 1895 
Records in this area have been kept since 1874 

Port Alberni Area (Port Alberni (AUT)) 
Preliminary new record of 34.3 
Old record of 30.0 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1900 

Port Hardy Area (Port Hardy A) 
Preliminary new record of 27.2 
Old record of 22.4 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1944 

Powell River Area (Powell River) 
Preliminary new record of 30.2 
Old record of 26.0 set in 2018 
Records in this area have been kept since 1924 

Prince George Area (Prince George Airport Auto) 
Preliminary new record of 30.7 
Old record of 27.8 set in 1925 
Records in this area have been kept since 1912 

Prince Rupert Area (Prince Rupert) 
Preliminary new record of 22.9 
Old record of 21.1 set in 1921 
Records in this area have been kept since 1908 

Sandspit Area (Sandspit Airport Auto) 
Preliminary new record of 19.8 
Old record of 17.0 set in 2011 
Records in this area have been kept since 1945 

Sechelt Area (Sechelt Aut) 
Preliminary new record of 30.6 
Old record of 26.1 set in 2014 
Records in this area have been kept since 1956 

Smithers Area (Smithers Airport Auto) 
Preliminary new record of 29.5 
Old record of 22.8 set in 1952 
Records in this area have been kept since 1938 

Squamish Area (Squamish Airport) 
Preliminary new record of 34.3 
Old record of 31.5 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1960 

Terrace Area (Terrace A) 
Preliminary new record of 29.5 
Old record of 28.3 set in 1925 
Records in this area have been kept since 1912 

Vancouver Area (Vancouver Intl A) 
Preliminary new record of 24.3 
Old record of 24.2 set in 1997 
Records in this area have been kept since 1896 

Victoria Area (Victoria Intl A) 
Preliminary new record of 29.5 
Old record of 25.9 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1914 

Victoria Harbour Area (Victoria Gonzales CS) 
Preliminary new record of 30.3 
Old record of 26.1 set in 1895 
Records in this area have been kept since 1874 

West Vancouver Area (West Vancouver Aut) 
Preliminary new record of 30.3 
Old record of 26.7 set in 2007 
Records in this area have been kept since 1976 

Whistler Area (Whistler - Nesters) 
Preliminary new record of 31.7 
Old record of 27.6 set in 2006 
Records in this area have been kept since 1950 

Williams Lake Area (Williams Lake A) 
Preliminary new record of 28.8 
Old record of 26.1 set in 1973 
Records in this area have been kept since 1960 

Yoho (National Park) Area (Yoho Park) 
Preliminary new record of 28.3 
Old record of 26.1 set in 1973 
Records in this area have been kept since 1923 

[NWbyNW]

Full on raining outside!  Didn't expect that!  It feels so good though after the heat we've had.  Cool breeze, cool air.  Love it.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Ended up with a 91/61 day yesterday. Third 90+ day in a row here. The low of 61 was at midnight so that was nice.

Hot and sunny through early afternoon then increasing clouds. Had a great light show to the north around 6pm. Some loud thunder and several impressive branching strikes of lightning visible. At least we got something out of the hot pattern.

Partly to mostly cloudy and 58 this morning. Glad to see the models converging on a decent cooldown over the weekend and early next week, but not quite ready to buy it yet.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Another bright spot. PDX fell to 61 before midnight last night, so it looks like they failed to set a new record MAX MIN for May. Nice to see. Should be out of the woods for that one for now.

[Ken in Wood Village]

I was wondering if anyone else is having issues with looking at the satellite pictures on the NWS website? Every time I click on the satellite image it shows this image. I'm just wondering if it's the Portland location or it's Nation wide. 

[awright-31]

Ended up with 91/53 and 0.62" yesterday. Pretty rare for these parts. Thunderstorms seemed to come in a straight line for hours. Even had one severe warning.

[Chewbacca Defense]

Never rained up here, but it got breezy about 1-2am and cooled off pretty quickly from 70 to the upper 50's. 

[TacomaWx]

A “cooler” low of 55 this morning after 2 +60 lows in a row. We’re up to +3.5F MTD as of yesterday. Pretty much a lock for a warmer than normal month at this point. 
 89 is a record for the month of May here, and we should break the record of +80 days for the month as well by the end of the week. Tables have really turned as we entered the second half of spring. 

[RentonHill]

Cool little spin on the Spokane radar 

[Phishy Wx]

9 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

Cool little spin on the Spokane radar 

apparently we had some storms overnight too according to the wife.  I slept right through them

[SnowySeeker50]

Low of 56 this morning

[fubario]

Thunder at 12:45 last night nearly knocked my a** outta bed. lol 

[FroYoBro]

Lots of cloud cover here this morning. Maybe an underachiever for temperatures today?

[the_convergence_zone]

14 minutes ago, FroYoBro said:

Lots of cloud cover here this morning. Maybe an underachiever for temperatures today?

There was only slight cooling at 850 hPa relative to yesterday, so the temperature will shoot up 15 F with ease as soon as the sun comes out and we mix down the warm air again. 

I think Sea-Tac will have no problem hitting 80 again today. 

[Phishy Wx]

sitting at 68, slightly humid.  feels like the east coast

[Meatyorologist]

6 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

There was only slight cooling at 850 hPa relative to yesterday, so the temperature will shoot up 15 F with ease as soon as the sun comes out and we mix down the warm air again. 

I think Sea-Tac will have no problem hitting 80 again today. 

That mixing between the warm 850s and the marine layer should compromise the current airmass a small bit, so no 90s again today. But 80 is pretty much a given, assuming things mix fully and there aren't any pesky wind patterns.