January 2024 Weather in the PNW (Part II)

[Requiem]

So I looked back at that December 2009 event out of curiosity-- interesting to see how little Gorge influence that one featured. Mark's old blogs featured many comparisons to 1998-- save for the raging easterly winds, which 2009 was apparently bereft of. 

[SnowWillarrive]

Just peaked outside and there is chunky snow here.

[Doinko]

Really liking how cold Saturday's looking out to be, should be fun with those strong east winds

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Requiem said:

So I looked back at that December 2009 event out of curiosity-- interesting to see how little Gorge influence that one featured. Mark's old blogs featured many comparisons to 1998-- save for the raging easterly winds, which 2009 was apparently bereft of. 

1998 ended up having much stronger CAA. I remember my brother telling me about how 2009 had a remarkably dry airmass. 

Silver Falls bottomed out with a 25/8 and 26/8 in 2009. 

For comparison the coldest day in 2008 was 25/13. It looks like Dec 2009 was about 1F colder, though 08' had 11 sub-freezing highs compared to 7 in 2009. 

December 2013 bottomed out at 23/7 and was slightly colder than 2008, but about 0.5F warmer than 2009... Upshot being, December 2009 is underrated for cold.  

[Cascadia_Wx]

Just now, SilverFallsAndrew said:

1998 ended up having much stronger CAA. I remember my brother telling me about how 2009 had a remarkably dry airmass. 

Silver Falls bottomed out with a 25/8 and 26/8 in 2009. 

For comparison the coldest day in 2008 was 25/13. It looks like Dec 2009 was about 1F colder, though 08' had 11 sub-freezing highs compared to 7 in 2009. 

December 2013 bottomed out at 23/7 and was slightly colder than 2008, but about 0.5F warmer than 2009... Upshot being, December 2009 is underrated for cold.  

There was also a very nice surprise snow event for Portland toward the end of December ‘09. Want to say the 29th? Dumped a quick 3-4 inches that was mostly unforecasted and caused traffic chaos.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Over an inch of rain at SLE today. We had 1.77" between yesterday and 5p this evening, 4.45" of precip on the month as of 5pm, so perhaps approaching 5" now. 

4.5" of snow on the season pulling ahead of the dismal 2014-15. 

[BLI snowman]

Picked up 1.8" here in just over 2 hours from 9:30 to 11:30. Nice quick event and a fun way to get the snow party started.

Seems like we were one of the only places to get accumulations with this. Definitely hoping the rest of the lowlands can get in on the action this week!

 

Edited January 10 by BLI snowman

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I forgot about those bummer midnight highs yesterday. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, BLI snowman said:

Picked up 1.8" here in just over 2 hours from 9:30 to 11:30. Nice quick event and a fun way to get the snow party started.

Seems like we were one of the only places to get accumulations with this. Definitely hoping the rest of the lowlands can get in on the action this week.

 

Clark County scored. 

[Deweydog]

17 minutes ago, Requiem said:

So I looked back at that December 2009 event out of curiosity-- interesting to see how little Gorge influence that one featured. Mark's old blogs featured many comparisons to 1998-- save for the raging easterly winds, which 2009 was apparently bereft of. 

The 12/98 blast didn’t have a ton of wind either. I think both were inhibited somewhat by the fact the original Arctic shortwaves were followed quickly by waves in the northerly flow which lowered gradients. 

Edited January 10 by Deweydog

[Front Ranger]

4 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

There was also a very nice surprise snow event for Portland toward the end of December ‘09. Want to say the 29th? Dumped a quick 3-4 inches that was mostly unforecasted and caused traffic chaos.

Another example of Portland managing to maximize El Nino patterns better than most the PNW.

[Requiem]

Yo Eugene folks-- surprised it wasn't mentioned but the South Valley gets a nasty ice storm this run. I was confused by the snow totals as precip was actually increased from the 00z last night (shifted south, however)-- it appears a lot of that falls as ZR.

[Cascadia_Wx]

3 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

I forgot about those bummer midnight highs yesterday. 

Warm spike from about 8pm from 1am last night. Messed up both days.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Ended up with about 1/2” snow here. Went for a couple nice walks a little bit ago. It was coming down hard at points. Giant aggregate flakes. There were breezy NW winds at times too, so definitely not dead gradients.

Barely touched freezing during the height of the snowfall, for a 49/32 day.

[Front Ranger]

December really outperformed from 1975 on. Dec 2009 was colder at PDX than any December from 1938 to 1977. But 1978, 1985, and 1990 were even colder.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Requiem said:

Yo Eugene folks-- surprised it wasn't mentioned but the South Valley gets a nasty ice storm this run. I was confused by the snow totals as precip was actually increased from the 00z last night (shifted south, however)-- it appears a lot of that falls as ZR.

You only exist to a few of us. It seems like it was a colder run for you though. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Front Ranger said:

December really outperformed from 1975 on. Dec 2009 was colder at PDX than any December from 1938 to 1977. But 1978, 1985, and 1990 were even colder.

Or maybe it under performed between 1938 and 1977, perhaps now we see January make a move if February dominance fades. 

[Doinko]

Ridiculous temp crash in 3 hours on the NAM

 

 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

 

[Doinko]

NAM snow

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, TigerWoodsLibido said:

 

OOF

[Front Ranger]

7 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Or maybe it under performed between 1938 and 1977, perhaps now we see January make a move if February dominance fades. 

Seems to streak that way. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Doinko]

NAM shows that second low, looks like it's targeting OR with even more snow after the first storm of a foot. This is after 12" falls at PDX, basically the dream scenario for NW OR

 

[Front Ranger]

Have insomnia tonight for various reasons. 6z NAM continues to look good for Portland. No southward trend.

[Cold Snap]

06z NAM is farther south with the parent low.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Doinko said:

NAM shows that second low, looks like it's targeting OR with even more snow after the first storm of a foot. This is after 12" falls at PDX, basically the dream scenario for NW OR

 

TWL seems to have a shot at an ice storm. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Cold Snap said:

06z NAM is farther south with the parent low.

I was going to say, it looks further south to me. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The NAM being the NAM of course, but at 10am Saturday it has Eugene at 30 with ZR, Corvallis at 13, SLE 9, and PDX 8. Good grief. At the same time I am being "warm nosed" at 20F. 

Looking at HR 78 and comparing to the 00Z:

EUG

06Z: 27

00Z: 43

[Meatyorologist]

5 hours ago, Kayla said:

Might end up seeing -40's out of this after all. Niño to boot...color me impressed pepto. 

ftfy

[SilverFallsAndrew]

ICON looks like its slightly north on Friday, big snow totals from Salem to PDX. It's even further south with the 2nd system though, and even brings a little snow down to Eugene before things shut off. As you can expect the ICON is ridiculously cold. 

[Sometimesdylan]

Next 3 days keep getting colder! Excited to be back in single digit tempS at sea level. 

[Requiem]

Cold air a hair south on the 06z

[Requiem]

[SnowySeeker50]

[Cold Snap]

GFS is further south with the Saturday storm. I would be happy if this verifies but it’s probably going to trend south more.

[smerfylicious]

Can the computers stop taking my snow away please? Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[Parrot]

38 minutes ago, smerfylicious said:

Can the computers stop taking my snow away please? Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

But the self-proclaimed experts on here promised that snow always came with cold and that a big scary arctic front was gonna bail us out

[Tanis Leach]

More technical (and longer) than usual but here is a look into different scenarios this weekend ending with what I think will happen: https://youtu.be/w-iN7tbe69I?si=WTXEVLCgCSJbOE9X

Technical info: I'm dead, I need to sleep so none tonight. 

[Ken in Wood Village]

I'll never forget this epic snowstorm on January 10th, 2017. I don't remember what time I went to bed that night because I loved watching it snow. The East winds were blowing a bat out of hell through the Gorge and it was snowing for hours. I wish we could have another storm like this one 🌨

[TacomaWx]

2 hours ago, Parrot said:

But the self-proclaimed experts on here promised that snow always came with cold and that a big scary arctic front was gonna bail us out

We don’t know what the arctic front will do still…thats always a nowcast even if the models don’t show anything right now.