February 2024 Weather in the PNW

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

ECMWF shows Nehalem bay getting 52 inches of snow. It must be a glacial bay or something, because that is a LOT of snow for being on the coast. 

[SnowWillarrive]

4 minutes ago, Dave said:

Eugene and especially Springfield suffered from one of the most devastating ice storms in years. In that storm, not a single flake was to be had. I've had one event of slushy snowfall the entire winter. Let's keep it south for a change.

Looked wintery down there though. Besides the down lines it looked beautiful. 

[snow_wizard]

I think a lot of places will see some flakes tonight.  Still a lot of heavy precip to go.

[snow_wizard]

3 minutes ago, RCola said:

Ehh, the Euro is a bit of a letdown for Sounders. It pulled back on snow in the Friday-Sunday time frame for Seattle. Now the decent snow is delayed until mid week next week. Feels like we're just kicking the can. Of course, if CMC is to be believed, there was never a can to kick.

It's actually a really good run.

[SnowySeeker50]

Cold front now overhead here

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, snow_wizard said:

Stays cold forever on this run.  Nice clipper being show at day 9 to keep the cold air going.

GFS run was worlds better and much colder regionally. 

[snow_wizard]

The ECMWF has a high of 36 for SEA next Wednesday.  That would be exceptional for this late.

[Dave]

2 minutes ago, SnowWillarrive said:

Looked wintery down there though. Besides the down lines it looked beautiful. 

It was beautiful but extremely unenjoyable. 

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The January cold snap was nice, we had about 10" of snow the week leading up to it, but no actual snow with the cold snap, just sleep and ZR. But a 4 day cold snap in an ocean of warmth is what it is. It's much more enjoyable if it happens in a winter like last year, which felt never ending. 

Edited February 29 by SilverFallsAndrew

[Dave]

37 degrees with rain at Santiam Pass. That should change in a couple of hours. Cold front come get us please.

[Cold Snap]

1 hour ago, TT-SEA said:

Interestingly the ECMWF shows some lowland snow tomorrow night with a roaring south wind across the entire area.

 

Has me in the bullseye but with a south wind I’m skeptical.

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

How's the anafront potential looking for the willamette valley?

[RCola]

6 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

It's actually a really good run.

It's decent in the long run. We'll just have to see. I'd love for something to pop up in the shorter term.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

How's the anafront potential looking for the willamette valley?

Looking at the Hrrrr it looks just a couple degrees to warm. Running out to tomorrow evening though, and that might be a better chance. 

[BlvuSumit]

front just passed through. With temp drop and wind shift to W.  Should be snow by 7 am per UW 1.3 km wrf gfs… will see

[bainbridgekid]

High res WRF looks pretty good for tomorrow night. Solid slug of moisture comes through the Central Sound between 10pm and 2am.

 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

38 minutes ago, Dave said:

Eugene and especially Springfield suffered from one of the most devastating ice storms in years. In that storm, not a single flake was to be had. I've had one event of slushy snowfall the entire winter. Let's keep it south for a change.

Haven't had more than 1.5" of snow here since Dec 2021. Would be nice to put a bow on what has been an eventful winter in any case.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

37 minutes ago, SnowWillarrive said:

Looked wintery down there though. Besides the down lines it looked beautiful. 

It felt wintry too inside the house at 20F with no power. We got 2 straight sub freezing highs for the first time since Jan 2017 in an impressive low level cold airmass.

But it would be really nice to cap it off with some snow.

[CliffMassYelledAtMe]

1 hour ago, Skagit Weather said:

This storm is going to be one of the more impressive ones I've seen in the mountains over the last couple years. At least 31" of new snow at Mt. Baker in the last 24 hours and 40" in the last 30 hours. Should probably pick up another 18-24" by morning.

The Washington State 24 hour record is supposedly 65" at Crystal Mountain on 2/24/94, but I find that hard to believe considering how little snow Crystal normally sees. But maybe the pattern was perfect. Paradise has an unofficial record of 70" in 24 hours from 11/26/55 which is a location I'd be more inclined to believe has the record, but that may just be in the record books as a result of not being able to clear off the snowboard one day. 

It happened. I was there!! Ok, not for all 24 hours but for the hours Crystal was open. It was amazing. 

 

We went up for my sister's birthday on the 23rd, which is when it started and it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing. We didn't even realize how much had fallen until we went out to my dad's big old Chevy in the parking lot and had to dig it out. It was truly unbelievable. I will never forget it.

 

And it was the only time I ever skied at Crystal.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The mesoscale models continue to be very aggressive with the amount of moisture streaming onshore tomorrow night and Friday morning, this jives pretty well with what we can see on satellite. 

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

1 minute ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

It felt wintry too inside the house at 20F with no power. We got 2 straight sub freezing highs for the first time since Jan 2017 in an impressive low level cold airmass.

But it would be really nice to cap it off with some snow.

Do you have a Woodstove/Fireplace?

 

I find it pretty stupid that now most houses are built with no fireplace or woodstove, and are completely screwed if the power goes out in winter. In LA it makes sense, at somewhere it can get cold it makes no sense. 

[CliffMassYelledAtMe]

1 hour ago, the_convergence_zone said:

Was it super low density snow??? Or maybe they added in the ski resort positive bias bump.

What's funny was when we were coming down the mountain and down through Greenwater and into Enumclaw, it kept snowing. Light snow, but still. We thought it was just a foothills thing, but as we drove further, there was snow in Black Diamond and Maple Valley and Covington (or what would later become Covington--I don't think it was incorporated yet.) All the way down to Kent there was snow. And it was such a surprise because it wasn't supposed to be anything but rain. I was in high school and it was magic. There's somehting to be said for those days of rain that ended up as snow and took everyone by surprise. Maybe not for adults, but as kids and teens? Unforgettable.

 

I don't think I have any pictures but I'll have to try and get some copies my parents have when they get to that part of sorting through their stuff. Historic!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Basically all the lowland snow in W. Oregon falls Friday morning. 

 

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

HRRR is great for snow, and it also gives salem a high of 36 on Friday, that would be pretty historic if it verified.

Edit: why is it that 90% of times I post a snow map, someone posts the same map 5 seconds before me. Terrible luck.

[BlvuSumit]

4 degree drop in the last hour post FROPA.

[CliffMassYelledAtMe]

1 hour ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

170k for that is criminal. But if it gets snow, sign me up! There's 2 bedrooms, so we could probably sleep atleast 8 of us in there, maybe even more if we bunk!

Are the bedrooms in the RV? Or is that room for even mote beds??

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

HRRR is great for snow, and it also gives salem a high of 36 on Friday, that would be pretty historic if it verified.

Edit: why is it that 90% of times I post a snow map, someone posts the same map 5 seconds before me. Terrible luck.

36 would be one above the record min max for the date which is 35 set in 1896. Would make up for the midnight high they are about to have. 

[Perturbed Member]

I don't really care for the HRRR outside 12-24 hours but FWIW:

[Tanis Leach]

1 hour ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

The rumors are true, he has RETURNED! if he starts commenting that means we have to look at his profile picture every time he comments... The accounts with faces get annoying to say the least.... except Weiner Warrior's account, we need more ones like that.

Are you challenging me to change my pic to the one time they zoomed in on me at an Oregon State game, with the commentators commentating on my appearance?

[Dave]

8 minutes ago, Tanis Leach said:

Are you challenging me to change my pic to the one time they zoomed in on me at an Oregon State game, with the commentators commentating on my appearance?

That sounds pretty interesting. Gonna need some follow up. What exactly was going on with your appearance and what did they say about it?

[DeepFriedEgg]

Temp is plummeting. 3 degrees in 5 mins so far

[TigerWoodsLibido]

51F with some heavy rain. Wow this is crazy! 0.15" since midnight.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like the wind switch just got to Salem. Places at the valley floor should drop into the mid-40s pretty quickly, lets see where it goes from there...

Fire Station up the hill just gusted to 49 ahead of the wind switch line. 

[SouthHillFrosty]

NAM was a little bit more generous with spreading the love for the PS

[HuskyMaestro]

1 hour ago, bainbridgekid said:

High res WRF looks pretty good for tomorrow night. Solid slug of moisture comes through the Central Sound between 10pm and 2am.

 

You can see Fife/Puyallup getting snow domed hard and confirming how I've gotten to really know this area's terrain

Immediately to the north, west, and south getting 1-2" since they're higher up by 100', while you can see the outline of the river valley there in white.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Up to 7.44" of rain on the month. 9" is normal for February, chance we make it. 

[ShawniganLake]

Wow. Snowy 6Z from the never snowy ICON.  Huge potential for Washington and BC early next week.  
 

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just dropped from 45 to 39. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Hmmmm...

[TigerWoodsLibido]

This is a prolific cold front. Very heavy rain and the temperature is definitely dropping.