Pacific Northwest Weather - May 2023

[Eugene-5SW]

One thing I'll say for the heatwave is that it really brought out the native Oregon iris.

 

[TT-SEA]

29 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Or he's really busy with his WORK. 

I was busy!     Definitely trended towards GFS.  We will see if it holds. 

[TT-SEA]

32 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

I haven't been to Seattle since 2019 so I do not have any personal observations to share, though my wife was there about a month ago and said it was much worse than when we had been there in 2019. Both PDX and Seattle have probably recovered a bit from the riotous summer of 2020, when I went through downtown PDX in August 2020 it looked like the set of some kind of post apocalyptic movie. 

Overall, I think we have been largely desensitized to the open air drug markets and houselessness. I think our leaders are trying, I have been impressed with Governor Kotek's focus on housing, but in the end as is often the case in our country instead of tackling the root of the problems, we treat the symptoms.  

The mayor of Seattle has made it his top priority to clean the city up and the results are showing.    Voters spoke.

[BLI snowman]

1 hour ago, Front Ranger said:

1952-53 is the GOAT when it comes to split flow hell.

I think of January 1953 at least as quite consolidated, actually. Very zonal across the CONUS and frigid up north.

I think of 2004-05 as being sort of the benchmark for split flow. 1940-41 if you want to go way back. Most Ninos have it in abundance by mid January.

[the_convergence_zone]

14 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

The mayor of Seattle has made it his top priority to clean the city up and the results are showing.    Voters spoke.

It's largely a visibility issue -- the high-traffic and tourism areas have been cleaned up. The actual number of people experiencing homelessness is probably about the same as pre-pandemic. It does matter though, you want the high traffic areas with tourists to look nice. I will say that I was skeptical of the constant sweeping of RVs but the number of really egregious situations has noticeably decreased in my neck of the woods and the overall numbers seem to have gone down. I would argue that the city as whole was never actually dangerous like portrayed by the media, but visibility and perception matter so it's good that people are realizing that it's fine to visit. Population is continuing to grow and there are still dozens of cranes with new developments, so the outlook for the city is pretty good. 

The commute patterns are really weird right now especially after the Amazon RTO, traffic is insane on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, worse than pre-pandemic. Other days it's still pretty light. I'm glad I don't commute. I don't know how you manage things like public transportation and traffic engineering when you have one or two days per week that have way, way more demand than others. It isn't helping that the light rail expansion to the east side has been delayed until 2025. 

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

53 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

The mayor of Seattle has made it his top priority to clean the city up and the results are showing.    Voters spoke.

Are people in treatment? Are overdose deaths dropping? Is affordable housing being built? I’m glad people are recognizing the problem, that’s the easy part. Real solutions will take a tremendous amount of public investment. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

26 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

It's largely a visibility issue -- the high-traffic and tourism areas have been cleaned up. The actual number of people experiencing homelessness is probably about the same as pre-pandemic. It does matter though, you want the high traffic areas with tourists to look nice. I will say that I was skeptical of the constant sweeping of RVs but the number of really egregious situations has noticeably decreased in my neck of the woods and the overall numbers seem to have gone down. I would argue that the city as whole was never actually dangerous like portrayed by the media, but visibility and perception matter so it's good that people are realizing that it's fine to visit. Population is continuing to grow and there are still dozens of cranes with new developments, so the outlook for the city is pretty good. 

The commute patterns are really weird right now especially after the Amazon RTO, traffic is insane on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, worse than pre-pandemic. Other days it's still pretty light. I'm glad I don't commute. I don't know how you manage things like public transportation and traffic engineering when you have one or two days per week that have way, way more demand than others. It isn't helping that the light rail expansion to the east side has been delayed until 2025. 

 

Great update. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

36 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

I think of January 1953 at least as quite consolidated, actually. Very zonal across the CONUS and frigid up north.

I think of 2004-05 as being sort of the benchmark for split flow. 1940-41 if you want to go way back. Most Ninos have it in abundance by mid January.

2004-05 is a great example. Horrible winter. 

[Front Ranger]

52 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

I think of January 1953 at least as quite consolidated, actually. Very zonal across the CONUS and frigid up north.

I think of 2004-05 as being sort of the benchmark for split flow. 1940-41 if you want to go way back. Most Ninos have it in abundance by mid January.

Yeah, much of Jan 1953 was zonal, but if you look at the entire wet season in 1952-53 (Oct-Apr), split flow was a reoccurring pattern.

Agree that 2004-05 was another big one, especially for mid winter.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Jesse, wish you were here?

[Ken in Wood Village]

Skies cleared out after a nice break from having warm overnight lows. There is an outside chance of a thunderstorm on the Westside of the Cascades. 

I'm using my laptop today. I am able to use the Rammb/Cira Slider satellite picture. I'm able to zoom in much better than using the NWS website. 

[TT-SEA]

34 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Are people in treatment? Are overdose deaths dropping? Is affordable housing being built? I’m glad people are recognizing the problem, that’s the easy part. Real solutions will take a tremendous amount of public investment. 

 I am not sure Andrew.    But I know we can't let the city be a mad max dystopian world where there are no rules.   That plan does not work at all.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

23 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

 I am not sure Andrew.    But I know we can't let the city be a mad max dystopian world where there are no rules.   That plan does not work at all.  

I agree. I’m just asking if the problem is being solved or just moved/hidden? Our country is very good at pretending things are OK.

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

I agree. I’m just asking if the problem is being solved or just moved/hidden? Our country is very good at pretending things are OK.

Unfortunately... there are many people who don't want to be helped and prefer the lawless society plan.   Which in turn ruins it for everyone.  

[Tyler Mode]

Very pleasant today.  75 degrees with a nice breeze.  Still a little hazy, but not bad.

[TT-SEA]

In early June last year I posted a pic of the prominent big leaf maple by our garden which is mature and very large tree and said it was not right and did not fill out as full as it usually gets.   The same thing happened to our red leaf maples that we have planted in our yard.   They looked sort of sparse all summer last year.    They all look normal now and very full.  You can't see through them like we could last summer.    I am not sure why this happened and why they are back to normal now... but the smoking gun seems to be the backwards spring last year.    We got warm in late March and early April and they started leafing out and then it was cold and wet into June.    This year it stayed cold enough for the leaf out to be delayed and they did much better with a spring that started cold and ended up warm.    

Just a theory... but I can't think of any other way to explain it.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

20 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

In early June last year I posted a pic of the prominent big leaf maple by our garden which is mature and very large tree and said it was not right and did not fill out as full as it usually gets.   The same thing happened to our red leaf maples that we have planted in our yard.   They looked sort of sparse all summer last year.    They all look normal now and very full.  You can't see through them like we could last summer.    I am not sure why this happened and why they are back to normal now... but the smoking gun seems to be the backwards spring last year.    We got warm in late March and early April and they started leafing out and then it was cold and wet into June.    This year it stayed cold enough for the leaf out to be delayed and they did much better with a spring that started cold and ended up warm.    

Just a theory... but I can't think of any other way to explain it.  

Maple are very resilient. I can’t believe how quickly they are coming back in the fire zones. 

[TT-SEA]

6 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Maple are very resilient. I can’t believe how quickly they are coming back in the fire zones. 

On another tree related note... while our deciduous trees look great this year we are having an issue in our area with hemlocks dying from the ground up.   This started in March when it was still wet and cold so its not related to the current warm spell.   This is almost certainly due to the ridiculous summer and fall we had last year.    Staying hot and not getting meaningful rain until late October probably pushed them over the edge.   Our HOA is actually having someone from the state come out to diagnose the problem.   But there is probably not anything that can be done about it.  

[TT-SEA]

Here is the message we got from the HOA:

As some of you may have noticed, there are a considerable number of dead and dying Hemlock trees in our neighborhood. This is evidenced by branches containing nothing but dead (orange) needles advancing from the ground up. This is due to a foliar disease affecting mostly Hemlock that is likely caused by recent drought conditions. The Forest Management Committee is aware of this situation and have arranged to have state Department of Natural Resources forest pathologists do an on-site visit to our neighborhood in June. Below is a link with the latest, pertinent information regarding this die off.
If you have an affected tree that you feel presents a danger to yourselves and/or your property, by all means remove it. Other affected trees that pose no imminent danger can be left standing for the visiting experts to observe and advise us on.
If you’re not sure a tree is affected, or you have any other questions forest related, reach out to myself or the other FMC members and we’d be more than happy to assist you.

[Omegaraptor]

Thunderstorms blowing up south and west of Bend.

[Blizzard777]

Bend getting love again. 
Nice view from under the Ross Island Bridge . No fish but not a bad way to enjoy the sun.  

[TT-SEA]

81 in North Bend and 80 here... dewpoint still in the low 60s today.    It stayed cloudy until about 11 a.m. but that did not keep the temperature any lower this afternoon compared to yesterday.   

[Phil]

51 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

In early June last year I posted a pic of the prominent big leaf maple by our garden which is mature and very large tree and said it was not right and did not fill out as full as it usually gets.   The same thing happened to our red leaf maples that we have planted in our yard.   They looked sort of sparse all summer last year.    They all look normal now and very full.  You can't see through them like we could last summer.    I am not sure why this happened and why they are back to normal now... but the smoking gun seems to be the backwards spring last year.    We got warm in late March and early April and they started leafing out and then it was cold and wet into June.    This year it stayed cold enough for the leaf out to be delayed and they did much better with a spring that started cold and ended up warm.    

Just a theory... but I can't think of any other way to explain it.  

Anthracnose fungus. Loves cool/wet springs and results in stunted green leaves that eventually drop either fully green or after shriveling up. After which the tree will put out a new crop of leaves to replace them. Sycamores are affected the worst but maples can be as well.

This spring was the first one in a long time with no hint of anthracnose here. It was so warm/dry that it just couldn’t take hold. Usually we have an annual “green leaf drop” in May because of it, but not this time.

[TT-SEA]

2 minutes ago, Phil said:

Anthracnose fungus. Loves cool/wet springs and results in stunted green leaves that eventually drop either fully green or after shriveling up. After which the tree will put out a new crop of leaves to replace them. Sycamores are affected the worst but maples can be as well.

This spring was the first one in a long time with no hint of anthracnose here. It was so warm/dry that it just couldn’t take hold. Usually we have an annual “green leaf drop” in May because of it, but not this time.

But our big leaf maple and red leaf maples did not drop leaves and put out a new crop last summer... they just stayed rather sparse looking right into the fall.   And then hung onto to their leaves into December and finally dropped them on top of snow cover.  

[Omegaraptor]

 

Hottest May weeks on record at PDX.

[TT-SEA]

5 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

 

Hottest May weeks on record at PDX.

Pretty toasty back in May 1938 as well. 

Just looked up that year... it barely rained at all in this area until September after that warm spell in May.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

7 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

But our big leaf maple and red leaf maples did not drop leaves and put out a new crop last summer... they just stayed rather sparse looking right into the fall.   And then hung onto to their leaves into December and finally dropped them on top of snow cover.  

They kept their leaves through November? I think had our 2nd coldest November on record with quite a bit of snow, the leaves dropped in 3-4 days. Was super weird, but reminded me of when I lived in Oklahoma. 

[Eugene-5SW]

9th consecutive 80ºF+ day here, which I'm sure is a record for May. Forecast high was 76º but we blew that out of the water as usual.

[TT-SEA]

6 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

They kept their leaves through November? I think had our 2nd coldest November on record with quite a bit of snow, the leaves dropped in 3-4 days. Was super weird, but reminded me of when I lived in Oklahoma. 

Big leaf maple did not go bare until late November... red leaf maples went bare after we had snow on the ground.   I posted a pic of it back in December.   Very strange.   But last November was quite a bit warmer in my area thanks to offshore flow.

This was in early December...

[Phil]

19 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

But our big leaf maple and red leaf maples did not drop leaves and put out a new crop last summer... they just stayed rather sparse looking right into the fall.   And then hung onto to their leaves into December and finally dropped them on top of snow cover.  

It it hits hard enough it can prevent the leaves from germinating altogether. But if your trees aren’t replacing the blighted leaves/buds then either they are in poor health, or your soil is lacking nitrogen.

Can you post a picture? 

[TT-SEA]

Just now, Phil said:

It it hits hard enough it can prevent the leaves from germinating altogether. But if your trees aren’t replacing the blighted leaves then either they are unhealthy or your soil is lacking nitrogen.

Can you post a picture? 

Pic of the big leaf maple?    It looks as healthy as ever right now.   And the leaves were green last summer... but smaller than usual which meant it did not look as full.   You could see through it and that is never the case in the summer.

[lowlandsnow]

23 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

 

Hottest May weeks on record at PDX.

It's not quite June 2021 level, but it's probably reasonable to say that a week like this in May has likely not happened since the MWP. There is really no analog.

Just looked at the data for this month 5 days above 90 this year crazy. Interestingly May 1983 did not have one 90 degree day but had a 100 degree day.

[TT-SEA]

Top pic is from last June... almost a full month later than now and in summer.    Bottom pic is right now.    It looks much more normal now than it ever did last summer.   And it appears to be still filling now in response to all the warm weather recently.

[FroYoBro]

38 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

 

Hottest May weeks on record at PDX.

And it’s not even close. 
 

[Ken in Wood Village]

Nice thunderstorms building up. I'll see about going outside and taking a couple of pictures of the storm. You can see the thunder head on the satellite picture. 

[High Desert Mat?]

This is the hardest I’ve ever seen it rain. I just recorded .56” of rain in the last 6 minutes with a a rain rate of 7.11 in/hr. Insane downpour with abundant lightning. 

[High Desert Mat?]

4 minutes ago, High Desert Mat? said:

This is the hardest I’ve ever seen it rain. I just recorded .56” of rain in the last 6 minutes with a a rain rate of 7.11 in/hr. Insane downpour with abundant lightning. 

Forgot to mention 88.4 degrees with a dew point of 65. 87% humidity. Nice and sticky eh Phil?

[Blizzard777]

This one bubbling near Mount Hood: keep your eyes on the storms boys 

[Ken in Wood Village]

Two severe thunderstorm storm warnings There is a lot of haze in the air. It's hard to see the thunderstorms. 

[Blizzard777]

14 minutes ago, High Desert Mat? said:

This is the hardest I’ve ever seen it rain. I just recorded .56” of rain in the last 6 minutes with a a rain rate of 7.11 in/hr. Insane downpour with abundant lightning. 

At least I’m enjoying watching the  storms blooming on the west side of the Cascades. 

[Phil]

20 minutes ago, High Desert Mat? said:

Forgot to mention 88.4 degrees with a dew point of 65. 87% humidity. Nice and sticky eh Phil?

Haha. That’s actually stickier than anything we’ve had so far this year! Though that would be a cool/dry day here by July standards.  

[Hawksfan2008]

Might be some surprises in the sound tonight 

[Ken in Wood Village]

Wow, some crazy lightning 🌩 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Prineville Reservoir in Central

Oregon is now 100% full. Fantastic news. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

2 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

81 in North Bend and 80 here... dewpoint still in the low 60s today.    It stayed cloudy until about 11 a.m. but that did not keep the temperature any lower this afternoon compared to yesterday.   

Southern California is under the curse of 2023 again. The evil weather pattern began after last Christmas. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

2 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Here is the message we got from the HOA:

As some of you may have noticed, there are a considerable number of dead and dying Hemlock trees in our neighborhood. This is evidenced by branches containing nothing but dead (orange) needles advancing from the ground up. This is due to a foliar disease affecting mostly Hemlock that is likely caused by recent drought conditions. The Forest Management Committee is aware of this situation and have arranged to have state Department of Natural Resources forest pathologists do an on-site visit to our neighborhood in June. Below is a link with the latest, pertinent information regarding this die off.
If you have an affected tree that you feel presents a danger to yourselves and/or your property, by all means remove it. Other affected trees that pose no imminent danger can be left standing for the visiting experts to observe and advise us on.
If you’re not sure a tree is affected, or you have any other questions forest related, reach out to myself or the other FMC members and we’d be more than happy to assist you.

There's dying jacarandas in California since it's been so cold there this year. 

[Omegaraptor]

5 minutes ago, Anti Marine Layer said:

There's dying jacarandas in California since it's been so cold there this year. 

Jacarandas are not native to California and are in fact an invasive species there

[T-Town]

Scenic clouds tonight. 

[Cold Snap]

Anthony thinks there could be thunderstorms tonight.

[lowlandsnow]

What weather stations have the longest period of record in the Pacific Northwest?