May 2020 Weather discussion for the PNW

[Farmboy]

You must be a little up Badger Creek or the White River then. Pretty area, especially this time of year when everything’s still green. Post pics if you can!

I would suggest Cottonwood Canyon state park on the lower John Day River if you are looking for a slightly warmer and drier microclimate over there.

Cottonwood state park is closed due to stay at home order that everyone seems to be ignoring. I may go to the Deschutes River area which would put me at about 1600 feet lower. Yup, Badger Creek area. Here are some pics of my hike up Badger Creek on Saturday....

[Jesse]

Cottonwood state park is closed due to stay at home order that everyone seems to be ignoring. I may go to the Deschutes River area which would put me at about 1600 feet lower. Yup, Badger Creek area. Here are some pics of my hike up Badger Creek on Saturday....

I wasn’t aware of that. Seems like a weird park to close considering how incredibly remote it is.

 

Great pics! I really like that trail and the interesting pine/oak woodlands in that area. Almost looks like you’re camped at Bonney Crossing.

[Timmy Supercell]

Fun Fact: This “cool” and wettish spell has still been above average in western WA and western OR because of the warm overnight lows. Only northern CA has been below average.

 

So I haven't been below? 70's would be quite normal at my place right now

[Jesse]

Fun Fact: This “cool” and wettish spell has still been above average in western WA and western OR because of the warm overnight lows. Only northern CA has been below average.

There have been some warm days in the mix too. PDX was in the low 70s both weekend days with mostly sunny afternoons. A few degrees above average.

[jakeinthevalley]

0.89" in West Salem in the last 24 hours

[Phil]

Average of all +ENSO to -ENSO transition summers from 1950-present.

 

April - September.

 

Edit: Meant to put in 1954 instead of 1953.

 

[BLI snowman]

Just a gorgeous day... completely sunny and 67 here. I would be very happy with sunny or partly cloudy and 60s for the holiday weekend. Alas... it will be raining for most of Sunday and Monday.

 

Oh well... you win some and you lose some.

 

 

It's been a 70 day holiday weekend for a lot of people

[Phil]

Oops. I put in 1953 instead of 1954. Shouldn’t make a huge difference, though.

[BLI snowman]

Fun Fact: This “cool” and wettish spell has still been above average in western WA and western OR because of the warm overnight lows. Only northern CA has been below average.

 

It got to freezing here on this date in 2003. What an actual cold spell looks like at this point in the year.

[TT-SEA]

It's been a 70 day holiday weekend for a lot of people

True.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Fun Fact: This “cool” and wettish spell has still been above average in western WA and western OR because of the warm overnight lows. Only northern CA has been below average.

I didn't know they were below average. They will need this then to average things out a bit.

 

[Omegaraptor]

I didn't know they were below average. They will need this then to average things out a bit.

 

 

Burn California Burn!

[Deweydog]

Moderate rainfall!!!

[Jesse]

Burn California Burn!

I think he is a bit of a pyro.

[Farmboy]

I wasn’t aware of that. Seems like a weird park to close considering how incredibly remote it is.

Great pics! I really like that trail and the interesting pine/oak woodlands in that area. Almost looks like you’re camped at Bonney Crossing.

Yeah, the ridges seem to be more arid while the canyons seem more like something you'd see on the westside, very interesting indeed. I'm not too far from Bonney crossing..

All state parks and National Forest campgrounds in Oregon and Washington are closed due to the stay at home order, dispersed camping is open, which is what I am doing.

[Deweydog]

Stormy!

[Jesse]

It got to freezing here on this date in 2003. What an actual cold spell looks like at this point in the year.

There could be some lows in the 30s coming out of the tail end of the trough at the end of this week. Probably not as cold as the 2003 one, though.

 

I still remember that trough pretty well. I was in band and we played at a parade in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle every year for their Syttende Mai festival. It was chilly and unsettled for the parade that May 17th with some hail and graupel showers. We didn’t get back to the high school until late that night and I remember being amazed that there were frozen rain drops on the cars in the parking lot. Didn’t know a ton about our climate history back then but knew that seemed pretty crazy for the last half of May.

 

I also made out for the first time on that bus ride back. :0

[Jesse]

Yeah, the ridges seem to be more arid while the canyons seem more like something you'd see on the westside, very interesting indeed. I'm not too far from Bonney crossing..

All state parks and National Forest campgrounds in Oregon and Washington are closed due to the stay at home order, dispersed camping is open, which is what I am doing.

I believe many Oregon state parks have been reopened. Same with recreation areas on national forests. At least the Gifford Pinchot. Not sure on the status of Mount Hood NF...

[Jesse]

Stormy!

Nice area of showers moving from north to south through Clark County.

[BLI snowman]

There could be some lows in the 30s coming out of the tail end of the trough at the end of this week. Probably not as cold as the 2003 one, though.

 

I still remember that trough pretty well. I was in band and we played at a parade in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle every year for their Syttende Mai festival. It was chilly and unsettled for the parade that May 17th with some hail and graupel showers. We didn’t get back to the high school until late that night and I remember being amazed that there were frozen rain drops on the cars in the parking lot. Didn’t know a ton about our climate history back then but knew that seemed pretty crazy for the last half of May.

 

I also made out for the first time on that bus ride back. :0

 

 

There were definitely some pretty chilly showers on the 17th, probably 41-42F or so in the lowlands. I remember some hail with it and the hills were definitely whitened from it.

 

That event and the crazy huge deformation zone on 5/22/13 (Not as impressive where I was at the time) are the two standout events from this stretch of calendar.

[Jesse]

There were definitely some pretty chilly showers on the 17th, probably 41-42F or so in the lowlands. I remember some hail with it and the hills were definitely whitened from it.

 

That event and the crazy huge deformation zone on 5/22/13 (Not as impressive where I was at the time) are the two standout events from this stretch of calendar.

We were out in Stevenson for the 5/22/13 event. Recorded a high of only 48 that day and over an inch of rain.

[Jesse]

HEAVY RAIN

[Omegaraptor]

I believe many Oregon state parks have been reopened. Same with recreation areas on national forests. At least the Gifford Pinchot. Not sure on the status of Mount Hood NF...

 

I know Timberline has reopened for skiing. You have to make a reservation beforehand and it's rather limited but you can ski.

[Jesse]

That was a gully washer that just moved through. Picked up .25” in about 10 minutes. Was pounding on the roof and overflowing the gutters for a minute there.

 

Extreme!!

[GeorgeWx]

I didn't know they were below average. They will need this then to average things out a bit.

 

Would this produce a Brookings effect? I’d like to see this happen just to see it firsthand.

[Jesse]

Would this produce a Brookings effect? I’d like to see this happen just to see it firsthand.

That would probably produce a strong marine layer along the coast, with the heat and associated heat low centered inland. You would need surface high pressure centered inland and a lot of low level northerly flow to get a strong Brookings effect.

[GeorgeWx]

It got to freezing here on this date in 2003. What an actual cold spell looks like at this point in the year.

Late freeze

[Jesse]

Judging by radar, snowsquall’s house at the Troutdale airport is getting dumped on right now.

 

Sure enough. Reporting heavy rain and even fog there in the last hour.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Heavy rain out here on the East side. Some very ominous looking clouds.

 

[GeorgeWx]

Heavy rain out here on the East side. Some very ominous looking clouds.

Some good orographic lift right there.

[VancouverIslandSouth]

63 and sunny here... its been sunny all day.  

 

Looks like two solid marine layer days coming up tomorrow and Wednesday so I am glad to see the sun today.

 

Ended up with a late day temperature spike here, with a warm evening breeze. Still 65F here at 8pm, ended up maxing out at 68F. The marine layer typically clears out quickly here, I'm not worried.

[Omegaraptor]

Heavy rain out here on the East side. Some very ominous looking clouds.

 

 

Washington County donut hole.

[Jesse]

Washington County donut hole.

You were getting pounded with heavy rain earlier this afternoon while it was dry with some sunbreaks here.

[Omegaraptor]

You were getting pounded with heavy rain earlier this afternoon while it was dry with some sunbreaks here.

 

On the upside we're getting a pretty nice sunset here.

[Jesse]

On the upside we're getting a pretty nice sunset here.

Same here.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Washington County donut hole.

At least you didn't do as bad as Kelso. The flow was just favorable today for East side locations.

 

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Some good orographic lift right there.

Yeah, good rainfall pattern for places like Sandy and Estacada.

[GobBluth]

Lack of a decent ridge you'd think the gulf of Alaska temps would be closer to normal

[Jesse]

Yeah, good rainfall pattern for places like Sandy and Estacada.

Today it had more to do with the position of the low than orographics, though.

[Phil]

00z GFS looks better for the heat misers.