Part II- January 2020 Obs and Discussion

[snow_wizard]

I wanted to reply to Tim's post about being upbeat.  There are two reasons.  One is we did have the nice setup earlier in the month even though it wasn't great for my area.  The second reason is February looks promising at this point.

 

Not sure what happened to his original post.

[TT-SEA]

I wanted to reply to Tim's post about being upbeat. There are two reasons. One is we did have the nice setup earlier in the month even though it wasn't great for my area. The second reason is February looks promising at this point.

 

Not sure what happened to his original post.

Its still up.

[TacomaWaWx]

I haven’t seen any sunshine yet.

[snow_wizard]

Solar activity is lower now than it was in the 90s and 80s I assume. Hope we can pull off something epic

 

Obviously no single factor is a 100% guarantee of a great winter, but the very low solar does seem to help.  Last year we had some crazy stuff happening with the polar stratospheric temps which had the ability to produce an almost unheard of great February in an El Nino season.  Something I noticed yesterday that made last February even more amazing is we had a pretty major MEI spike as compared to the early part of the winter.  I think that totally made up for the equally astonishing torchy Feb in the winter 1933-34 which happened with a pretty major Nina.

[snow_wizard]

I haven’t seen any sunshine yet.

 

Just a little bit here.

[Omegaraptor]

High cloud shocker!

[bainbridgekid]

18z definitely has more lowland snow on the backside of the anafront/baroclinic band on Sunday

[Timmy Supercell]

I haven’t seen any sunshine yet.

 

I don't think the locals at my place can process any more uv rays 

[Phil]

Idk, “Singing in the Rain” sounds more fun than “Singing in the Dry Warm Anomaly”...

Stole this from Jesse’s Spotify playlist.

 

[Phil]

Only 3 hour drive south to Portland. It’s not too late.

He’s on the way.

[Phil]

[Phil]

That was close to the coldest east wind I've seen here. It was 23 degrees and gusting to 40.

That’s the coldest wind you’ve ever seen? You need to get out more, my brother.

[Phil]

Sorry guys, I’m probably pulling a domebuster. Gonna sign off before Fred pulls out the ban hammer.

 

Trying to enjoy these last 2 days before class resumes, lol.

[High Desert Mat?]

Yeah, I’d love to experience one of those heavy snowfall events. I’d imagine they’re quite fun.

It sure was last year on February 25th here. Dropped a ton of snow in a little over 24 hours.

[mtep]

I remember driving through NorCal and Oregon during the January 2017 event. This was before I followed the weather any more than checking my phone's weather app and only about 4 months into me living in the PNW. A friend and I were making the trip from Fort Worth, Texas and our last stretch was San Francisco to Bham. We got to Redding around 7 on the evening of the 3rd. The idea was to make it back to Bham that night so that I could make it to my first day of winter quarter on the 4th but I5 north was closed somewhere north of Redding due to snow. My friend and I are from Texas and at that point we were still pretty naive about the whole blizzard thing so we decided to detour around the closed section of I5. I can't remember the exact route we took but it was bad. I believe it was 299>139>39>97>58 to Eugene. At around 1am on the 4th we were somewhere along 299 on a pass (I wish I knew which one) going up a loooong incline when our chained tires suddenly became useless. We were driving in place because the ice was so thick on the road. We sat there in the dark for a few minutes mildly panicking, trying to dig a path for our tires. After a few minutes a snow plow drives by (in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard???) and carves us a path for 20 miles or so. Saved our asses. The sun finally came up when we were around Klamath Falls and it was gorgeous. The drive was a lot smoother from there on out. I still cant believe we made it through that blizzard in a ******* chevy spark. Looking back it was really stupid but I cherish it as one of the funnest adventures I've had. I didn't realize at the time how special it was to see snow up most of the I5 corridor. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

It sure was last year on February 25th here. Dropped a ton of snow in a little over 24 hours.

 

That was an amazing event. Inch per hour rates overnight.

[snow_wizard]

A large number of GFS ensemble members on the 18z GFS show 850s dropping a good 20C in less than a day when that cold shot hits.  In other news the operational shows increasingly strong and extensive blocking developing as Feb unfolds.

[snow_wizard]

18z definitely has more lowland snow on the backside of the anafront/baroclinic band on Sunday

 

That is going to be something to watch.  The ECMWF showed big potential with that.  It is far from time to call this winter done.

[Blizzard777]

I grew up watching lake effect snow in Salt Lake City area and I'm here to tell you that 2017 here was a legit snowstorm. It absolutely nuked snow at times. NWS considered it basically a once in a generation type snowstorm for here.

I remember watching the web cams from up here.  Portland was ground zero for that intense moisture.  The radar was showing yellow to orange echos south of Pdx  crashing into the cold air and turning into that deep blue echo!   It was incredible to watch and I was so jealous!!! 

 

[snow_wizard]

That’s the coldest wind you’ve ever seen? You need to get out more, my brother.

 

No...one of the coldest east winds.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Coldest east wind I can remember was in Dec 1998 at 21F with solid NE winds (in Yamhill County).  Got down to 12F at one point.  That is the coldest temp I have ever experienced.

[Timmy Supercell]

Coldest east wind I can remember was in Dec 1998 at 21F with solid NE winds (in Yamhill County).  Got down to 12F at one point.  That is the coldest temp I have ever experienced.

 

Dec 2009 wasn't single digits? 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Dec 2009 wasn't single digits? 

 

Was also 12F in SW Yamhill County where I lived then.

 

Missed the Dec 2013 cold snap as I was visiting family in Texas.

[Blizzard777]

Crystal cam does not disappoint.  Lovely up in the Cascades today

 

50* Federal Way 

with Sun-breaks showing up a bit to late 

[Omegaraptor]

Was also 12F in SW Yamhill County where I lived then.

 

Missed the Dec 2013 cold snap as I was visiting family in Texas.

Coincidentally, I was in Texas on 1/10/17.

 

If you live in the PNW, don’t go to Texas in winter.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Just started pouring.  Was nice until about a half hour ago.

[Timmy Supercell]

Was also 12F in SW Yamhill County where I lived then.

 

Missed the Dec 2013 cold snap as I was visiting family in Texas.

 

Hillsboro was like 6 or 8 degrees one morning when I was waiting for the school bus. Any sort of a breeze felt like ice hitting my face.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Hillsboro was like 6 or 8 degrees one morning when I was waiting for the school bus. Any sort of a breeze felt like ice hitting my face.

 

Hope to experience that one day.

[Timmy]

Hope to experience that one day.

maybe you and k12 can experience your first bout of decent winter weather ever, together someday!

[Timmy Supercell]

maybe you and k12 can experience your first bout of decent winter weather ever, together someday!

 

Hopefully Tiger doesn't go another 12 years without observing lightning 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Hopefully Tiger doesn't go another 12 years without observing lightning 

 

Well I'm getting to experience some heavy 57F rain right now so there's that.

[Omegaraptor]

Hope to experience that one day.

You can in the mountains. I usually have a facemask on when skiing because of the blowing snow and wind. Willamette Pass ski area is at 5100’.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

You can in the mountains. I usually have a facemask on when skiing because of the blowing snow and wind. Willamette Pass ski area is at 5100’.

 

Sadly it's really tough for me to get out much.  I would love to go one day.

[Timmy Supercell]

You can in the mountains. I usually have a facemask on when skiing because of the blowing snow and wind. Willamette Pass ski area is at 5100’.

 

Funny how some years it won't get colder than mid-20's at KHIO but I have an annual minimum of like 0 or -1 on average now.

[Timmy Supercell]

YES BRING IT. That's some healthy precipitation.

 

[Phil]

[GHweatherChris]

18z definitely has more lowland snow on the backside of the anafront/baroclinic band on Sunday

Toss it out, doesn't show anything for here, lol!!

[Requiem]

maybe you and k12 can experience your first bout of decent winter weather ever, together someday!

 

Perhaps so 

[Timmy Supercell]

2015 was the only year I've experienced snow on Easter Sunday (coincidentally was also my brother's birthday), and had a thundersnow in May that year.

[MossMan]

Nice little hike on Camano Island today. Was dry there, drizzly back here at home.