December 2019 Weather Discussion for the PNW

[SilverFallsAndrew]

96 was ridiculously bad. I was living in Portland at the time. We had three trees in the backyard topple over. Someone rang our doorbell and they said "sorry to bother you, but are you aware that one of your trees is blocking the road?".

 

Down in Marion county we "missed out" on that event. 

[MossMan]

96 was ridiculously bad. I was living in Portland at the time. We had three trees in the backyard topple over. Someone rang our doorbell and they said "sorry to bother you, but are you aware that one of your trees is blocking the road?".

I have VHS news coverage that also covered Oregon (Northwest Cable News when still in existence) of that event, I am always in awe when I go back and watch it.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

The Sound doesnt have the gorge to pull low level cold underneath a warm system to cause freezing rain. Over here in Leavenworth we have freezing rain several times per year, most are pretty minor though.

[Dave]

Down in Marion county we "missed out" on that event.

 

Lol. You really missed out. Since Salem missed, I'm guessing eugene did too.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Lol. You really missed out. Since Salem missed, I'm guessing eugene did too.

 

If I recall it was around 50 with heavy rain down here. A couple days later we had a brief overrunning snow event. Probably about 1-2" of snow which turned to rain by evening, but midnight temps were in the upper 50s. 

[Omegaraptor]

Sacramento might actually just finish the year wetter than Portland, based on the ensembles.

 

HIO: 23.17"

SAC: 23.33"

PDX: 23.99"

 

If it does, I'm pretty sure it'll be the first time in recorded history that it happens.

[Timmy Supercell]

There's only 1 day I can recall a ZR event here, 12/26/2017 and that was an extremely small one, maybe a twentieth of an inch. More ice events appear to happen west of the cascades. At best we usually just get a crunchy snow when arctic air happens. Some of the events that occur in the central US would be just about impossible in Klamath.

[Requiem]

Recently-- there was a decently gnarly ice storm in early December 2016 (I think the 7th). It was a wintry mix with maybe 0.5 inches of ice for most of PDX, but the east side and the hills had .5-1.5 inches of ice on everything. It's the only storm to have ever done significant damage to my garden.

[Dave]

Feb 2014 was an underrated event. The snow depth got to about 10" on the floor before the ZR occurred. We had almost .75" of ice on top of that, which really squished the snow down. I'll see if I can dig up a couple of pics.

[El_Nina]

There's only 1 day I can recall a ZR event here, 12/26/2017 and that was an extremely small one, maybe a twentieth of an inch. More ice events appear to happen west of the cascades. At best we usually just get a crunchy snow when arctic air happens. Some of the events that occur in the central US would be just about impossible in Klamath.

I wonder if ZR possibilities go much further south than the valley you're in. Doesn't seem theres any optimal valleys shielded by mountains to the west down in California or Nevada.

[Omegaraptor]

Feb 2014 was an underrated event. The snow depth got to about 10" on the floor before the ZR occurred. We had almost .75" of ice on top of that, which really squished the snow down. I'll see if I can dig up a couple of pics.

 

I remember sledding down a hill near me on Feb 2014. Once the snow layer had a nice little layer of ice on it, the sleds became a lot more uncontrollable.

[Timmy Supercell]

Feb 2014 was bigger in NW OR than it was at my place. My folks from back in Wash. County had like 8-10 inches while it was only a few inches here. 

[Guest CulverJosh]

I remember sledding down a hill near me on Feb 2014. Once the snow layer had a nice little layer of ice on it, the sleds became a lot more uncontrollable.

Jan 10, 2017 is proof that Washington County can do amazing things.

[Gradient Keeper]

December 26, 1996 was the worst ice storm I've experienced. December 2016 was severe too.

 

00z GFS in 54 minutes

00z GEM in 1 hour 14 minutes

00z ECMWF in 3 hours 9 minutes

[umadbro]

Best sledding hill is Wilcox park in Lynnwood. Have yet to find a better one in the lowlands between Lynnwood and the Central valley.

[Blizzard777]

Since the models are duds at the moment, I have a question for the Sounders up there.

 

Eugene experiences an ice storm about every 3 or 4 years and about once a decade we get a severe one with .75" or more thickness. Portland gets more than that thanks to the gorge.

 

I don't recall hearing about many severe ice storms up there.

 

Is freezing rain a rare event, or have I just missed hearing about them?

2012 was the big one up here for me otherwise their were a few very minor ones as in lasting a whole hour or so before cold air was scoured out.  We just don’t have the gorge magic in the South Sound. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Some pretty heavy showers about this evening. Temp down to 39 here. 

[Dave]

Here are a couple of images I found from Feb 2014. This wasn't necessarily the peak of the event, but still kinda cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave]

Hmm. Uploader is fukky. Here's another.

 

Edit: Well I give up. The uploader is simply fucckked up beyond all recognition.

 

One more try:

 

[umadbro]

February 2014 we had between 12 and 15 inches total. A couple layers of ice mixed in there. I remember at least two times where freezing drizzle happened in-between steady moderate to heavy snowfalls. I gotta dig up the pics.

[MossMan]

Since we are looking back at fond memories of wonderful events...

A pic of my grandma on a frozen solid Lake Goodwin. Date unknown.

December 1990.

I presume January of 1972. (I think pic was developed in February of ‘72)

And Dec 1996! That was my first car!

[umadbro]

Best one I could find.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Stroll down memory lane! I know there are some pics of December 1990 at my Dad's house somewhere. 

[Guest CulverJosh]

My mom has some pictures of a very unhappy me in the early 80s trampling around in a snowstorm in Woodburn. I was miserable but they wanted pictures of the little toddler Josh.

[MossMan]

My mom has some pictures of a very unhappy me in the early 80s trampling around in a snowstorm in Woodburn. I was miserable but they wanted pictures of the little toddler Josh.

I’m trying to find the pic of me in waist deep snow in Nov 1985 but I haven’t located it yet.

[MossMan]

My dad has a bunch of pics from the infamous 68/69 event. I remember one pic of his 1965 Chevelle SS all chained up!

[Dave]

My dad has a bunch of pics from the infamous 68/69 event. I remember one pic of his 1965 Chevelle SS all chained up!

Oh man, I'd love to see those. Eugene was still the bullseye until I get proven different.

[OysterPrintout]

Feb 2014 I lived in Beaverton and the TV Highway was pretty dead at rush hour and I went for a walk in the Beaverton Creek Wetlands and the ducks were congregated to small areas of not frozen-over water. Also cameras on phones weren't nearly as good.

 

 

 

[MossMan]

Up to 2.35” for the month so far...Not too bad. The half inch we had later this afternoon that fell in about a half hours time really gave my drainage a work out...it was so worth all of the work this summer and fall!

[Blizzard777]

Didn’t own a generator back in the day. Parents didn’t either.  So when these storms happened all we had was our radios to stay connected with the world. Curious to see how the PNW handles the next HUGE storm that takes down the grid for several days!  
still got my radio just in case.

Recalling the 2012 storm i remember the frustration of my phone being low on battery life and no way to charge it.  Service of course sucked anyhow.   Good luck to our new generation of kids who will have to endure this very scary moment in life!!!  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Didn’t own a generator back in the day. Parents didn’t either.  So when these storms happened all we had was our radios to stay connected with the world. Curious to see how the PNW handles the next HUGE storm that takes down the grid for several days!  

still got my radio just in case.

Recalling the 2012 storm i remember the frustration of my phone being low on battery life and no way to charge it.  Service of course sucked anyhow.   Good luck to our new generation of kids who will have to endure this very scary moment in life!!!  

 

I still need a generator. Looks like we might luck out this winter!

[Guest CulverJosh]

Good to see that Clark County is staying active into this evening, they always get left out. Lol.

[TacomaWaWx]

Since the models are duds at the moment, I have a question for the Sounders up there.

 

Eugene experiences an ice storm about every 3 or 4 years and about once a decade we get a severe one with .75" or more thickness. Portland gets more than that thanks to the gorge.

 

I don't recall hearing about many severe ice storms up there.

 

Is freezing rain a rare event, or have I just missed hearing about them?

Freezing rain is a lot more common in western OR than western WA. It’s only happened 2 times in my lifetime...January 2004 and 2012. 2012 was a significant one with lots of tree damage along with 8 inches of snow.

[MossMan]

Didn’t own a generator back in the day. Parents didn’t either. So when these storms happened all we had was our radios to stay connected with the world. Curious to see how the PNW handles the next HUGE storm that takes down the grid for several days!

still got my radio just in case.

Recalling the 2012 storm i remember the frustration of my phone being low on battery life and no way to charge it. Service of course sucked anyhow. Good luck to our new generation of kids who will have to endure this very scary moment in life!!!

I remember one of the Thanksgiving windstorms of the early 80’s...No power for over a week! I was around 5 or 6 and thought it was awesome! We listened to the transistor am radio! My parents were less thrilled. Then there was Nov 2006...No power for about 4 days, lows in the single digits, highs in the 20’s and 1.5 feet of snow on the ground. Thank goodness for the wood stove at my dads house where I stayed during that time. I had a battery powered little tv, watched the Hawks play in the snow if I remember correctly. He also had a crappy generator that was super loud and only ran the refer and freezer and a light so we didn’t use it much.

Here in the present time I am ready! I have a generator that runs over half the house (and the tv which is the most critical haha) and I added a blower to my gas fireplace in case we have a prolonged outage and need to heat the house. The furnace is not on the generator power but now the fireplace will do just fine. I also have 15 gallons of gas on the ready for the generator, that would power it for many many days. Also have a stock pile of batteries for the flashlights, and battery powered radios. And of course my chainsaw is ready to rock and roll in case I need to cut my way out of my driveway. Just need the storms now haha!

[Blizzard777]

I still need a generator. Looks like we might luck out this winter!

I finally bought a small one 4 years ago and haven’t used it.  Bought it to keep my Sump pump going under the house.

I am very very curious though on how the internet, WiFi and cell service will be when a large scale outage happens.  I’ll assume the worst though....everything offline

[Blizzard777]

I remember one of the Thanksgiving windstorms of the early 80’s...No power for over a week! I was around 5 or 6 and thought it was awesome! We listened to the transistor am radio! My parents were less thrilled. Then there was Nov 2006...No power for about 4 days, lows in the single digits, highs in the 20’s and 1.5 feet of snow on the ground. Thank goodness for the wood stove at my dads house where I stayed during that time. I had a battery powered little tv, watched the Hawks play in the snow if I remember correctly. He also had a crappy generator that was super loud and only ran the refer and freezer and a light so we didn’t use it much.

Here in the present time I am ready! I have a generator that runs over half the house (and the tv which is the most critical haha) and I added a blower to my gas fireplace in case we have a prolonged outage and need to heat the house. The furnace is not on the generator power but now the fireplace will do just fine. I also have 15 gallons of gas on the ready for the generator, that would power it for many many days. Also have a stock pile of batteries for the flashlights, and battery powered radios. And of course my chainsaw is ready to rock and roll in case I need to cut my way out of my driveway. Just need the storms now haha!

You are ready as you should be.  Of course your area would be more prone to outages.  

i need a wood stove!!! Bucket list

[MossMan]

I finally bought a small one 4 years ago and haven’t used it. Bought it to keep my Sump pump going under the house.

I am very very curious though on how the internet, WiFi and cell service will be when a large scale outage happens. I’ll assume the worst though....everything offline

Since we only have satellite options for tv and internet at our place it did not effect that at all for me last December when the power was out for two days...about the only good thing when it comes to that...otherwise I am not a fan of the satellite internet.

[Blizzard777]

Meanwhile I’m screwed!

[MossMan]

Meanwhile I’m screwed!

Might want to get your generator ready!

[Blizzard777]

Might want to get your generator ready!

Screw the generator, getting the ruby red slippers. I don’t deal well with flying monkeys