October 2023 Weather in the PNW

[GHweatherChris]

Hot from the presses... the PDO is a result, not a driver of anything.

[NorthBend RainEnthusiast]

A bit windy last night at Rattlesnake Lake as the dark clouds moved in.

Only got down to 44°F last night, but I spotted some light snow on Mt. Defiance this morning heading into work. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

2 minutes ago, NorthBend RainEnthusiast said:

A bit windy last night at Rattlesnake Lake as the dark clouds moved in.

Only got down to 44°F last night, but I spotted some light snow on Mt. Defiance this morning heading into work. 

Beautiful.

[High Desert Mat?]

11 hours ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Lows forecast well into the teens by late week out on the Oregon high desert. 

Looking forward to it!!

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Thanks @SilverFallsAndrew for coming and hanging out this morning. I don’t get a chance to interact with people since I’m stuck at home all the time. Truly a great friend and a reason I know we would have a blast whenever we do some sort of forum meetup.

I’d love for any of y’all to stop by and see what it’s like here in the south valley. @Meatyorologist had the chance to see how unique and different this area is with its terrain profile and the furthest north extent of the empty west.

Nice and chilly morning, currently 47F with increasing clouds.

[ShawniganLake]

41F with moderate rain. I saw a few snow flakes mixing in on the highway cams on central Vancouver Island with an elevation of 1400ft.  

[iFred]

22 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Thanks @SilverFallsAndrew for coming and hanging out this morning. I don’t get a chance to interact with people since I’m stuck at home all the time. Truly a great friend and a reason I know we would have a blast whenever we do some sort of forum meetup.

I’d love for any of y’all to stop by and see what it’s like here in the south valley. @Meatyorologist had the chance to see how unique and different this area is with its terrain profile and the furthest north extent of the empty west.

Nice and chilly morning, currently 47F with increasing clouds.

Wait, that’s Andrew?

[SilverFallsAndrew]

12 minutes ago, iFred said:

Wait, that’s Andrew?

Contrary to popular belief I am not actually a dog! 

[Snownerd3000]

13 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Contrary to popular belief I am not actually a dog! 

I feel lied to

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like Burns, OR hit 19 this morning. Signs of the season. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

1 minute ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Looks like Burns, OR hit 19 this morning. Signs of the season. 

Should be some solid single readings end of this week.

[gusky]

Back from my annual wx hibernation through non-winter seasons - this time in Walla Walla for college. Looks like an early start to winter here, lows gonna be in the mid to low 20s later this week with a couple chances for some flurries!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Currently SLE has a monthly mean of 59.2, this is the 6th warmest October 1-23rd period on record, if the month ended today it would be the 3rd warmest October of all time, projecting ahead they will definitely end up outside the top ten and potentially outside the top 20 warmest.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

What is amazing about October 2019, is not only is it the 4rd coldest October on record at SLE behind only 1919, 1893, and 1949. It is the only October in the 21st Century in the top 20 coldest at that location. The 2nd coldest October of the Century was 2007 which checks in at #22 with 2013 at #25. In fact you have to go all the way back to 1990 to find another October in the top 20 coolest. I thought this was merely UHI related, but looking at the average high/lows, there are actually 3 other years in the top 20 coolest lows (2002, 06, 13). So it is actually predicated more on warmer high temperatures overall and general mildness. Either way, 2019 stands out as a HUGE anomaly. 

[ShawniganLake]

Dease Lake in Northern BC dropped to -4F this morning.  Pretty cold for October. 

[the_convergence_zone]

I thought it should be raining by now but the sun is out here and the temperature is up to 53. I don't think we're going to get much rain prior to the cold front passage late this afternoon. This is not a setup that favors a good snow at Snoqualmie Pass, I bet they end up with less than 6 inches. Likely to be better at Stevens though. 

[MossMan]

Just now, the_convergence_zone said:

I thought it should be raining by now but the sun is out here and the temperature is up to 53. I don't think we're going to get much rain prior to the cold front passage late this afternoon. This is not a setup that favors a good snow at Snoqualmie Pass, I bet they end up with less than 6 inches. 

Just starting to sprinkle lightly here. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Raining already at PDX, very possible they have already achieved their high for the day.

[jakerepp]

Time for my yearly pilgrimage back for 'vicarious living, part deux'.

How's everyone doing?

 

Oooof, I need to update my signature statistics. I assure you my record high is a bit higher than that now.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, jakerepp said:

Time for my yearly pilgrimage back for 'vicarious living, part deux'.

How's everyone doing?

 

Oooof, I need to update my signature statistics. I assure you my record high is a bit higher than that now.

At least your elevation is higher now.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

15 minutes ago, MossMan said:

Just starting to sprinkle lightly here. 

Looked out the window about 20 minutes and the streets were wet.

[ShawniganLake]

0.3” of rain so far this morning 

[BLI snowman]

23 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Raining already at PDX, very possible they have already achieved their high for the day.

First sub-60 of the season there. 

[jakerepp]

16 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

At least your elevation is higher now.

If I was at 900ish feet in Edmonds, my snow totals would've been double every year. Unfortunately, no such location exists.

[Cascadia_Wx]

27 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

First sub-60 of the season there. 

How does this rank with their latest?

Also interesting, they made over to four months with no sub-60 highs (June 18th-October 24th) after coming off an historically long period with no 60+ highs last winter (November 4th-March 16th)

[Cascadia_Wx]

The setup this week would have been a little more fun if the lobe of cold air Friday was progged to dig farther west, as originally advertised. Could have scored some hard freezes and maybe some highs in the 40s. But as it stands, this pattern will still help many spots avoid a top or all-time record warm month, and that in and of itself is a feat these days.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Light rain and 42.6°F.

[The Blob]

Been raining since about 10am here.

[Skagit Weather]

It will be interesting to see how much highs are actually depressed over the next couple days. NWS is going with my area making it into the 50s every day, but that would only be a degree or two colder than the last few days. I haven't been above 54F since last Friday even with partly sunny skies Sunday and yesterday. Today I've probably already topped out just under 50F. My lowest high on record for October is 43.6F from 2020. Don't think I'll quite get there, but probably have the best chance to stay in the mid 40s tomorrow with the cloud cover/rain or Saturday after the chilly start.

[Skagit Weather]

14 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

How does this rank with their latest?

Also interesting, they made over to four months with no sub-60 highs (June 18th-October 24th) after coming off an historically long period with no 60+ highs last winter (November 4th-March 16th)

Looks like today is tied with 2010 for 5th latest. Here are the top 10 (excluding this year) latest first dates for sub 60F highs at PDX:

 

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Barometer keeps falling... now down to 1005 mbar.

[Phishy Wx]

had a quick shower.  45

[BLI snowman]

27 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

How does this rank with their latest?

Also interesting, they made over to four months with no sub-60 highs (June 18th-October 24th) after coming off an historically long period with no 60+ highs last winter (November 4th-March 16th)

1952, 1987, 1988, and 2015 were all later. Tied with 2010.

Edit: I see Skagit got it!

Edited October 24 by BLI snowman

[Phishy Wx]

wife reported sleet at her work 3 miles away

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Phishy Wx said:

wife reported sleet at her work 3 miles away

Uh oh. 

[ShawniganLake]

2 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Uh oh. 

Warm nose  

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Snowing in the nearby North Shore Mountains.

https://www.grousemountain.com/web-cams/chalet-cam

[Deweydog]

Wet leaves!

[ShawniganLake]

Temp’s down to 40 here after a high of 42.1F.  Some heavier rain moving through now.  0.43” on the day. 

[Phishy Wx]

starting to Snow on Mt Spokane

 

 

[Skagit Weather]

19 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

1952, 1987, 1988, and 2015 were all later. Tied with 2010.

Edit: I see Skagit got it!

Yeah, sorry, for jumping on that. I was interested as well. For those interested here's the top 10 latest sub 60F highs for SEA:

And for BLI:

[Cold Snap]

Had a low of 42 this morning. Looks like I won’t be getting a sub-50 high today as it is 52 right now.

[MWG]

Currently only 52F and also what a tease for Saturday morning lol

[Port Angeles Foothiller]

Looks like I'll be shadowed for the whole event. Models did not handle precip direction correctly. Shouldn't be too shocked. 

[ShawniganLake]

Already some flakes in the air below 200ft on central Vancouver island. 
 

[Rubus Leucodermis]

16 minutes ago, ShawniganLake said:

Already some flakes in the air below 200ft on central Vancouver island. 
 

By the way, earlier you mentioned this subdivision near the Malahat that's quite high (as in 1500' or so) in elevation. Are there any other noteworthy higher elevation areas one can live at on the Island? (There is a chance I might be moving to the Island in the next year or so, so figured I'd ask.)

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Looks like we only made it to 54F so far. Definitely a chilly one today. Very nice for October!

[the_convergence_zone]

Looks like the cold front is starting to become better defined off the coast of Aberdeen. That should be a fun feature to track as it comes into metro areas later this evening. 

I haven't gotten a single drop of rain yet.

[ShawniganLake]

17 minutes ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

By the way, earlier you mentioned this subdivision near the Malahat that's quite high (as in 1500' or so) in elevation. Are there any other noteworthy higher elevation areas one can live at on the Island? (There is a chance I might be moving to the Island in the next year or so, so figured I'd ask.)

There are some properties that creep up the mountain sides on the north side of Nanaimo.  Not 1500ft but they can get a lot of sea effect snow up there when the outflow gets going.  Bear mountain in Victoria has some higher hills but Shawnigan gets more snow than that area.  There are many rural properties along the west side of the Cowichan valley that are in the 700-1000ft range.  
 

Goldstream heights is the highest and most scenic subdivision I know of.  Unparalleled views from up there  

 

[Skagit Weather]

1 hour ago, Port Angeles Foothiller said:

Looks like I'll be shadowed for the whole event. Models did not handle precip direction correctly. Shouldn't be too shocked. 

Looks to me like your area wasn't predicted to receive much precip before 3 p.m. today anyways. Euro still shows you picking up more than an inch by tomorrow morning so I wouldn't count yourself out yet.