December 2023 Weather in the PNW

[TT-SEA]

37 minutes ago, ShawniganLake said:

Just 0.01” of rain here this morning.  Supposed to get windy later which will be nice to clear that stagnant damp air out or here.  It was 54F with thick fog when I was in town yesterday.  People were commenting this past week on how this is the foggiest winter they can remember.  

54 and foggy is pretty insane for late December.    Much more likely to be in the 30s with fog at this time of year.  

Its been the opposite out here in terms of fog... almost none.   I see the ECMWF is showing a persistent and broad area of east wind starting Saturday night into at least Tuesday so fog should not be an issue then even near the water.   Models have also been trending quite a bit drier in that period... particularly out here.  

[Kayla]

-24F / -45F day one year ago today at BZN. Good enough for a -54 departure. Absolute Insanity. 

We sit elevated from the valley floor but still pulled off a -17F / -40F day.

[Mercurial]

 

warmest December ever 

[Kayla]

One year ago today. I miss snow.

[the_convergence_zone]

32 minutes ago, Slushy Inch said:

Westerlies through the straight literally cause a pscz. I can show you the velocity too

Yes but at the time of the image it was still a frontal feature 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

41 with heavy rain.

[Slushy Inch]

9 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

Yes but at the time of the image it was still a frontal feature 

Front passed through around 5 or 6 am. Westerlies like that are post frontal. 

[Phil]

18 minutes ago, Kayla said:

-24F / -45F day one year ago today at BZN. Good enough for a -54 departure. Absolute Insanity. 

We sit elevated from the valley floor but still pulled off a -17F / -40F day.

What a contrast!

These strong/super niños often denote intradecadal regime changes. Hopefully it’s not one that torches the lower-48 every winter.  

[Mercurial]

16 minutes ago, Kayla said:

One year ago today. I miss snow.

Sweet house though!  

[Chewbacca Defense]

.22" of rain since midnight, most of that coming after about 6:30 this morning.

[the_convergence_zone]

22 minutes ago, Slushy Inch said:

Front passed through around 5 or 6 am. Westerlies like that are post frontal. 

I think we're saying the same thing...the westerly surge immediately follows the frontal passage, so technically you are right that the radar returns are different than a canonical cold front. They are cool features. 

To me the term "convergence zone" gets thrown around too much, one of these advancing westerly surges isn't really a convergence zone until it stalls out in the central Sound as it has done in the last hour. 

[the_convergence_zone]

Up to 8.20" of rain on the month after picking up 0.45" this morning. 

Still behind the 9.58" from last December. 

[MossMan]

Matt!!! Were you there? 

[MossMan]

21 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

I think we're saying the same thing...the westerly surge immediately follows the frontal passage, so technically you are right that the radar returns are different than a canonical cold front. They are cool features. 

To me the term "convergence zone" gets thrown around too much, one of these advancing westerly surges isn't really a convergence zone until it stalls out in the central Sound as it has done in the last hour. 

Big westerly surges are the cause of my longest power outages here! 

[MWG]

Looks like a low of 37F and currently 39F with fog/light rain. Don't know about that light snow since there was none down here.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Really some first-rate quality torching happening this season.

As Christmas nears, snow at record low in U.S., elsewhere in North America

[Phishy Wx]

1 hour ago, Kayla said:

-24F / -45F day one year ago today at BZN. Good enough for a -54 departure. Absolute Insanity. 

We sit elevated from the valley floor but still pulled off a -17F / -40F day.

we were 4/-10 and I thought that was nuts.  that's insane

[Phishy Wx]

2022-12-20	16	-3	6.5	-21.7	58	0	0.22	2.7	14
2022-12-21	9	-7	1.0	-27.1	64	0	0.00	0.0	15
2022-12-22	4	-10	-3.0	-31.0	68	0	T	T	14
2022-12-23	10	2	6.0	-22.0	59	0	0.19	1.7	14

[Phishy Wx]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

What a contrast!

These strong/super niños often denote intradecadal regime changes. Hopefully it’s not one that torches the lower-48 every winter.  

it is

[the_convergence_zone]

3 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

2022-12-20	16	-3	6.5	-21.7	58	0	0.22	2.7	14
2022-12-21	9	-7	1.0	-27.1	64	0	0.00	0.0	15
2022-12-22	4	-10	-3.0	-31.0	68	0	T	T	14
2022-12-23	10	2	6.0	-22.0	59	0	0.19	1.7	14

High of 26, low of 17 one year ago here. And that was with bare ground...if there had been snow it would have struggled to crack 20. 

[westcoastexpat]

NWS Climate Prediction Centre monthly temperature and precipitation anomaly maps are now out for 2024

[westcoastexpat]

Here is the January and JFM outlooks 

 

[Phishy Wx]

1 minute ago, westcoastexpat said:

NWS Climate Prediction Centre monthly temperature and precipitation anomaly maps are now out for 2024

Hope for next winter lol

[MossMan]

4 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

High of 26, low of 17 one year ago here. And that was with bare ground...if there had been snow it would have struggled to crack 20. 

I hit 21 that day after a 18 degree high the day before. That was sure an amazing few days! 

[Port Angeles Foothiller]

2 minutes ago, westcoastexpat said:

NWS Climate Prediction Centre monthly temperature and precipitation anomaly maps are now out for 2024

Summer looks hot and dry.... again...

[Kayla]

8 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

we were 4/-10 and I thought that was nuts.  that's insane

I'm not sure if I spent more than a couple minutes outside that day to snap a couple pictures. Life threatening type of cold.

Warm enough for a nice run/hike here today, should be pushing 50º so about 75 degrees warmer today than this time last year!

[Deweydog]

26 years ago RIGHT NOW this was the 500mb pattern preceding a surprise SNOW event. Memorable not only for the fact that it SNOWED during a supernino but for the fact this was the night we played the Satyricon for the first of two times. I crapped in the same bathroom Kurt Cobain shot up in almost seven years earlier to the day! Once we packed up and were heading home, rain was changing to SNOW and most of Clark County picked up a couple inches with the weak slider, a chilly low level air mass and weak gradients. Blessings.

[TT-SEA]

Temp just dropped from 43 to 38 in the last hour and there are some positive splats here now and can see accumulating snow higher up on the ridge.

[RentonHill]

7 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

26 years ago RIGHT NOW this was the 500mb pattern preceding a surprise SNOW event. Memorable not only for the fact that it SNOWED during a supernino but for the fact this was the night we played the Satyricon for the first of two times. I crapped in the same bathroom Kurt Cobain shot up in almost seven years earlier to the day! Once we packed up and were heading home, rain was changing to SNOW and most of Clark County picked up a couple inches with the weak slider, a chilly low level air mass and weak gradients. Blessings.

Actually, I think you should write a children's book on PNW snow events instead of full-scale writeups. 

[Slushy Inch]

Waste of a very wet pscz. Wish it was 32 degrees 

[Deweydog]

17 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

Actually, I think you should write a children's book on PNW snow events instead of full-scale writeups. 

Cover art’s done. Dark yes, but very post-Tongan.

[Cascadia_Wx]

41 degrees as we approach the afternoon with light rain continuing. 

.40” on the day so far. At least it will kind of feel like winter the next couple days.

[ShawniganLake]

46F with clearing skies here.  Dry pavement  

[TT-SEA]

There is some snow on the trees up on the ridge now and the ECMWF shows we might get an inch of snow here this evening as the c-zone slips south and fades.   If that happens it would likely survive until Christmas with dry air moving in tomorrow. 

[Skagit Weather]

1 hour ago, westcoastexpat said:

NWS Climate Prediction Centre monthly temperature and precipitation anomaly maps are now out for 2024

Pretty easy call these days for long term to predict warmer than average, especially during a Niño (even if it fades by the summer/end of the year).

[Mercurial]

35/fog/drizzle 

for like the n hundredth day in a row

[Mercurial]

I think Montana had more snow in August 1992 than in December 2023.  Here’s 4 year old me in Anaconda that month.  I was old enough to remember this event, but too young to comprehend the significance of valley snow in august. 

[Cold Snap]

Up to 0.66” of rain for the day so far. All of it has fallen since 4:45am.

[Cold Snap]

1 year ago today where I pulled off a 23/11 day.

[Anti Marine Layer]

California thread is still dead even when it rains. Need to transport some PNWers down there.