January Weather In The PNW 2024 (Part III) - The Warming Shot

[Slushy Inch]

Operational runs and controls have been way more aggressive than ensembles with troughs for some reason. Ww snow on control.

[MossMan]

4 hours ago, Port Angeles Foothiller said:

It doesn't though. Snow after March 1st doesn't stick around more than a few hours unless it is a SIGNIFIANT storm. Sun is just too strong by mid day

Snow had no problem sticking around for the entire first half of March 2019 here! 

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

I would agree that it's completely possible for the lowlands to get something good, all the way to mid march. if you got the perfect setup with well timed storms, you could stay below freezing at daytime, and you could maybe even get a 2nd day with a sub freezing high. It's extremely unlikely, but I think Portland getting a few inches of wet snow in mid april 2022, is enough proof that you could get something that's decent, a month earlier than that. No need to stick that fork in the season yet, its still January, and anything from late February to mid March is still up in the air.

[BLI snowman]

14 minutes ago, Phil said:

Interesting information, thanks!

So I guess in that context, April 2022 was as anomalous as anything else winter-related in the 21st century?

Definitely. It was of the cold maritime/precip rate dependent variety as opposed to something continental, but still an incredibly unique event for when it occurred. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

19 hours ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Please spell my name as it is spelled in the Bible.

It is not spelled Cascadia_Wx in the Bible. 

[TT-SEA]

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

[the_convergence_zone]

Winter in the upper Midwest is one month later than the western WA lowlands. Milwaukee’s coldest normal high/low combo of 30/16 occurs Jan 21-26. Seattle’s coldest combo of 46/37 is Dec 19-27.

We’re the oddity here because of our sensitivity to solar heating. Most places bottom out in January which follows the actual northern hemisphere mean temperature minimum. Including our mountains and pretty much anywhere that maintains a consistent snowpack in the winter. 

[Meatyorologist]

8 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

Some estimates determine Americans dropped an average of 6 IQ points per person from the 1920s-70s due to atmospheric lead poisoning. Who knows what microplastics are doing now...

[Meatyorologist]

1 hour ago, Ray said:

I agree 100 percent!  I'm 61 as well and had the time of my life growing up back then.  I wouldn't trade those days for anything.

Well you got to experience winter of 1968-69. You have any pictures?

[Port Angeles Foothiller]

35 minutes ago, MossMan said:

Snow had no problem sticking around for the entire first half of March 2019 here! 

2019 doesn’t count. That was an anomaly. I had snow cover till mid April. 

[BLI snowman]

20 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s again... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

Don't forget all the people smoking in airplanes, restaurants, and hospitals. Those were the days!!

[T-Town]

Fog forming on the Narrows. 

[T-Town]

40 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

And we walked ten miles to school uphill both ways in that pollution. And we liked it. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

40 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

Smog equipment and catalytic converters have been on cars since about 73 or so. 

I wish they would start targeting airplane and cruise ship emissions and back off on the cars some.  

The cure for auto emissions is converting them to e85 fuel . Corn fuel burns cleaner but the big oil people wouldn't make as much. 

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Smog equipment and catalytic converters have been on cars since about 73 or so. 

I wish they would start targeting airplane and cruise ship emissions and back off on the cars some.  

The cure for auto emissions is converting them to e85 fuel . Corn fuel burns cleaner but the big oil people wouldn't make as much. 

Well the smog controls didn't do much to prevent the brown haze hanging over most cities in the 70s and into the 80s.   

[Eugene-5SW]

I gotta say, I don’t really get all this nostalgia for the 1970s. They were AWFUL. There’s a reason it was called the “Malaise Era.”

High unemployment, urban blight, interest rates that would give a nosebleed to the pearl-clutchers who complain about today’s 6% mortgages (try 18%!), Vietnam, international tensions.

Automotive low point in history — ugly, bloated, badly-built cars with huge, inefficient engines that ran terribly, got lousy MPG, and spewed obnoxious smog despite emission controls that sapped their power output to a fraction of what they were capable of.

And don’t even get me started on the fashions. Long, greasy hair with muttonchop sideburns and bushy porn-stashes — and that was just the women. Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, polyester leisure suits, lapels out to here — even as a teenager, I knew that sh*t was just wrong.

Plus, I had a rough time as a teenager in the ‘70s. I was a geeky kid who got picked on a lot. Everything changed with the ‘80s when I went to college.

So yeah, you can keep your ‘70s!

[Eugene-5SW]

9 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Well the smog controls didn't do much to prevent the brown haze hanging over most cities in the 70s and into the 80s.   

The widespread adoption of electronic fuel injection in the mid 1980s was the game-changer in emission controls.

[Deweydog]

6 minutes ago, Eugene-5SW said:

I gotta say, I don’t really get all this nostalgia for the 1970s. They were AWFUL. There’s a reason it was called the “Malaise Era.”

High unemployment, urban blight, interest rates that would give a nosebleed to the pearl-clutchers who complain about today’s 6% mortgages (try 18%!), Vietnam, international tensions.

Automotive low point in history — ugly, bloated, badly-built cars with huge, inefficient engines that ran terribly, got lousy MPG, and spewed obnoxious smog despite emission controls that sapped their power output to a fraction of what they were capable of.

And don’t even get me started on the fashions. Long, greasy hair with muttonchop sideburns and bushy porn-stashes — and that was just the women. Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, polyester leisure suits, lapels out to here — even as a teenager, I knew that sh*t was just wrong.

Plus, I had a rough time as a teenager in the ‘70s. I was a geeky kid who got picked on a lot. Everything changed with the ‘80s when I went to college.

So yeah, you can keep your ‘70s!

And ‘70’s porn….

Good lord.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

13 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Well the smog controls didn't do much to prevent the brown haze hanging over most cities in the 70s and into the 80s.   

I don't remember that here at all. Around Seattle or tacoma. 

[T-Town]

12 minutes ago, Eugene-5SW said:

I gotta say, I don’t really get all this nostalgia for the 1970s. They were AWFUL. There’s a reason it was called the “Malaise Era.”

High unemployment, urban blight, interest rates that would give a nosebleed to the pearl-clutchers who complain about today’s 6% mortgages (try 18%!), Vietnam, international tensions.

Automotive low point in history — ugly, bloated, badly-built cars with huge, inefficient engines that ran terribly, got lousy MPG, and spewed obnoxious smog despite emission controls that sapped their power output to a fraction of what they were capable of.

And don’t even get me started on the fashions. Long, greasy hair with muttonchop sideburns and bushy porn-stashes — and that was just the women. Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, polyester leisure suits, lapels out to here — even as a teenager, I knew that sh*t was just wrong.

Plus, I had a rough time as a teenager in the ‘70s. I was a geeky kid who got picked on a lot. Everything changed with the ‘80s when I went to college.

So yeah, you can keep your ‘70s!

 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

12 minutes ago, Eugene-5SW said:

I gotta say, I don’t really get all this nostalgia for the 1970s. They were AWFUL. There’s a reason it was called the “Malaise Era.”

High unemployment, urban blight, interest rates that would give a nosebleed to the pearl-clutchers who complain about today’s 6% mortgages (try 18%!), Vietnam, international tensions.

Automotive low point in history — ugly, bloated, badly-built cars with huge, inefficient engines that ran terribly, got lousy MPG, and spewed obnoxious smog despite emission controls that sapped their power output to a fraction of what they were capable of.

And don’t even get me started on the fashions. Long, greasy hair with muttonchop sideburns and bushy porn-stashes — and that was just the women. Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, polyester leisure suits, lapels out to here — even as a teenager, I knew that sh*t was just wrong.

Plus, I had a rough time as a teenager in the ‘70s. I was a geeky kid who got picked on a lot. Everything changed with the ‘80s when I went to college.

So yeah, you can keep your ‘70s!

And yet some of the best music ever came from that period.  

[SnarkyGoblin]

1 hour ago, TT-SEA said:

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

I wonder how people will feel about our cars today 50 years from now.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

1 minute ago, T-Town said:

 

I wouldn't like the 70's either if I got my a** kicked repeatedly. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

1 minute ago, SnarkyGoblin said:

I wonder people will feel about our cars today 50 years from now.

It will be remembered for the most powerful and yet fuel efficient cars ever produced.  It's amazing what they are doing right now. 

[AbbyJr]

3 hours ago, Phil said:

Yes that is a split.

Yay I'm learning. Thanks Phil.

[Meatyorologist]

Two weeks ago today it SNOWED

[Meatyorologist]

The 18z GFS is also entertaining the idea of a brief cool trough w/ marginal snowfall before the big bad warm comes in. Hopefully the ridging we get will be of the dry variety, so any mountain snow that might fall over the next couple weeks won't melt immediately. And that way we can score some 55/29 type days to tack onto the freezing counter.

[MossMan]

45 minutes ago, Eugene-5SW said:

I gotta say, I don’t really get all this nostalgia for the 1970s. They were AWFUL. There’s a reason it was called the “Malaise Era.”

High unemployment, urban blight, interest rates that would give a nosebleed to the pearl-clutchers who complain about today’s 6% mortgages (try 18%!), Vietnam, international tensions.

Automotive low point in history — ugly, bloated, badly-built cars with huge, inefficient engines that ran terribly, got lousy MPG, and spewed obnoxious smog despite emission controls that sapped their power output to a fraction of what they were capable of.

And don’t even get me started on the fashions. Long, greasy hair with muttonchop sideburns and bushy porn-stashes — and that was just the women. Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, polyester leisure suits, lapels out to here — even as a teenager, I knew that sh*t was just wrong.

Plus, I had a rough time as a teenager in the ‘70s. I was a geeky kid who got picked on a lot. Everything changed with the ‘80s when I went to college.

So yeah, you can keep your ‘70s!

My first car/truck! 1975! It had a catalytic converter and a finely tuned 4bbl Holley Carb, so not bad emissions wise, ran amazing and I got the best car in the high school yearbook my sophomore year! Had that car from 1992 to 2009! 

Edited February 1 by MossMan

[T-Town]

34 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

I don't remember that here at all. Around Seattle or tacoma. 

Definitely some industrial pollution in Tacoma in those days but every era has positives and negatives. 

[T-Town]

36 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

And yet some of the best music ever came from that period.  

The peak of rock and roll. 

[MossMan]

37 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

And yet some of the best music ever came from that period.  

Yes! 

 

[bainbridgekid]

3 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Officially 59 today so the 61 between hours at midnight didn't hold.  

So lame. I knew 60 could be a rounding error but being off by two degrees is ridiculous.

Where do you even see the official daily numbers btw?

[TT-SEA]

20 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

So lame. I knew 60 could be a rounding error but being off by two degrees is ridiculous.

Where do you even see the official daily numbers btw?

Scratch that... SEA did get to 60!     Happened at 12:41 a.m.

Officially updated on SEA NWS site now.   You would think setting the record of 4 consecutive days would be worthy of a post from SEA NWS.  

 

 

[TT-SEA]

Also was the 4th consecutive day with a +13 departure to wrap up the month.  

Of course that pales in comparison to the -23, -24, -18, -13, -14 streak in the middle of the month.  

I think I read that SEA has only hit 60 degrees 18 times ever in January before this year.   To add another 4 in one year is impressive.

[TT-SEA]

Last 4 days at SEA:

61/51

61/51

61/51

60/53

Although looks like the low might go a little lower than 53 for the day since it's 53 on the hour at SEA now. 

There was a -1.6 departure for the month going into today so should end up around -1.1 on the month.  

This was not even the coldest January this decade.    January 2022 ended up -1.8 at SEA.  

[BLI snowman]

1 hour ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

And yet some of the best music ever came from that period.  

Yeah but it also gave us this

It was a confused and confusing time. 

[MossMan]

It appears an EF3 struck a portion of Stanwood today! 

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

2 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

For those wistful for the 1970s and 80s... remember that air pollution was so much worse and so much more persistent back then.   There were basically no regulations on cars.   Just smog spewing machines.

My childhood town whitefish had 3000 something people in the 70s and 80s, pollution wasnt that much of a problem for me.

1 hour ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

And yet some of the best music ever came from that period.  

Late 50s-late 60s is when music peaked, atleast in my taste. But the 70s were pretty good too! I'm sure some people on here won't agree with what I'm saying, but music today is pure sh*t, terrible, the worst assortment of garbage imaginable made into music, I cannot put into words how terrible I find music these days, some of it is okay at best, but most of it sucks. I'm yet to find a currently popular artist or group I like. 

2 hours ago, BLI snowman said:

Don't forget all the people smoking in airplanes, restaurants, and hospitals. Those were the days!!

That really sucked. I'm glad my parents weren't smokers, but almost everywhere else indoors I'd spend time at as a kid smelled like cigarettes, it was disgusting.

 

1 hour ago, Eugene-5SW said:

I gotta say, I don’t really get all this nostalgia for the 1970s. They were AWFUL. There’s a reason it was called the “Malaise Era.”

High unemployment, urban blight, interest rates that would give a nosebleed to the pearl-clutchers who complain about today’s 6% mortgages (try 18%!), Vietnam, international tensions.

Automotive low point in history — ugly, bloated, badly-built cars with huge, inefficient engines that ran terribly, got lousy MPG, and spewed obnoxious smog despite emission controls that sapped their power output to a fraction of what they were capable of.

And don’t even get me started on the fashions. Long, greasy hair with muttonchop sideburns and bushy porn-stashes — and that was just the women. Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, polyester leisure suits, lapels out to here — even as a teenager, I knew that sh*t was just wrong.

Plus, I had a rough time as a teenager in the ‘70s. I was a geeky kid who got picked on a lot. Everything changed with the ‘80s when I went to college.

So yeah, you can keep your ‘70s!

Yeah a few of the things you listed were pretty bad, but every time period has its problems, it isn't any better now. It sucks that you got picked on but that doesn't have much to do with the 70s being bad, and always remember, geeky people are usually the ones that end up being successful.

[MossMan]

4 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

Yeah but it also gave us this

It was a confused and confusing time. 

Drugs back then didn’t necessarily kill you like they can nowadays, they just made for things like this! 

[MossMan]

I remember my dad playing this song over and over again when riding in his 1977 Chevy pickup after he added an 8-track player to it…With no child car seats or even a seatbelt!