March 2024 Weather in the PNW

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Roman-Dallas Snow-Zone said:

This morning on the way home few miles west of spirit mountain casino  

Incredible, that is only about 600-700' ASL.

[TT-SEA]

23 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Crazy, the shower activity looks to be building on the coast again, not finishing with snow today here

Not expecting anything here during the day except some non-accumulating light snow.   ECMWF shows the south wind really ramping up by early afternoon... but you might be protected from that.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

Not expecting anything here during the day except some non-accumulating light snow.   ECMWF shows the south wind really ramping up by early afternoon.    But you might be protected from that.

What's your seasonal total?

 

[Front Ranger]

32 minutes ago, SouthHillFrosty said:

Yup fr actually. I’m pulling a @TT-SEA and going to San Diego this Friday. Gotta get get some sun if it’s not going to snow

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/weather/story/2023-06-08/san-diego-hasnt-had-a-completely-sunny-day-since-feb-15-and-wont-anytime-soon

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, Front Ranger said:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/weather/story/2023-06-08/san-diego-hasnt-had-a-completely-sunny-day-since-feb-15-and-wont-anytime-soon

That was a last year. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

2 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Not expecting anything here during the day except some non-accumulating light snow.   ECMWF shows the south wind really ramping up by early afternoon... but you might be protected from that.

Nope I've had strong south winds with all this snow, didn't matter today. Must just be colder air.

[TT-SEA]

2 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

What's your seasonal total?

 

Not sure.   Had about 4 inches on the ground during the January event and peaked at 3 inches during this event on Monday morning.   But we also had numerous coatings that melted quickly over the course of the winter which technically would add to the seasonal total but I don't really pay attention to those. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

In terms of how this winter stacks up compared to my expectations it has to be an A++++. I was expecting a 2014-15 or 2002-03 type dud-fest. In terms of how it scores overall, I have to give it at least a B-, maybe even a solid B. This current stretch has been a top tier late season event as far as snow goes. That combined with the massive arctic BLAST in January, and the fact that we had above normal precip, it's been a fairly solid winter. Not sure how to play this in to the rankings, but we had an exceptional number of weird torchy NIGHTS up here this winter. We had several nights with temps around 60 all night with off shore downsloping, and then when the winds died at sunrise the temps dove into the 30s, very strange and I've never seen that before in all my years here, but it happened 3-4 times this winter. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Nope I've had strong south winds with all this snow, didn't matter today. Must just be colder air.

We've been absolutely blasted with S winds this entire event. At times gusting 30-40mph. Winds are fairly light today so far, though I see SLE has been gusting around 30mph. 

[Front Ranger]

7 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

That was a last year. 

Just goes to show you can't count on sun there this time of year.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

2 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

We've been absolutely blasted with S winds this entire event. At times gusting 30-40mph. Winds are fairly light today so far, though I see SLE has been gusting around 30mph. 

I'm really getting excited for next winter, word is out, even my girlfriend said next winter is supposed to be crazy haha.

[TT-SEA]

11 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Nope I've had strong south winds with all this snow, didn't matter today. Must just be colder air.

Your area is pretty unique though.   The south wind is just starting up and most of the area around the Sound is too warm for sticking snow.   Also 40 degrees in North Bend right now.

[Roman-Dallas Snow-Zone]

18 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Incredible, that is only about 600-700' ASL.

It was even like this at lower spots 300ft. I suspect the many hours of heavy precip made this possible. When I got home there was hardly any trace of snow with most of the moisture skirting just west and north 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Man I'm not sure what to expect this evening,  I see a nice batch of showers building out there that look to rotate right under the Olympics again later. Looks like a good cell headed this way soon that will probably drop another inch maybe. Temp steady at 33

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

I'm really getting excited for next winter, word is out, even my girlfriend said next winter is supposed to be crazy haha.

We'll see. My one fear for next winter is that we have screaming zonal flow and that cold air is bottled up to the north. Will still feel like winter though either way! We could be looking at an unprecedented -ENSO event. Nothing in the post 1950 era really compares to what some of the models are showing. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

10 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

We'll see. My one fear for next winter is that we have screaming zonal flow and that cold air is bottled up to the north. Will still feel like winter though either way! We could be looking at an unprecedented -ENSO event. Nothing in the post 1950 era really compares to what some of the models are showing. 

That is the excitement for me is the new territory or unexpected possibilities.  

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

12 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

We'll see. My one fear for next winter is that we have screaming zonal flow and that cold air is bottled up to the north. Will still feel like winter though either way! We could be looking at an unprecedented -ENSO event. Nothing in the post 1950 era really compares to what some of the models are showing. 

What is the deepest depth you have ever had there?

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

What is the deepest depth you have ever had there?

Snow depth? 26" in January 2012. We got to about 24-25" in February 2019, and hit 20" in December 2021 and February 28, 2023. 

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Snow depth? 26" in January 2012. We got to about 24-25" in February 2019, and hit 20" in December 2021 and February 28, 2023. 

Pretty sure we had 40 inches on the ground here at the peak in February 2019.   

[SilverFallsAndrew]

My buddy is a trucker in SW Oregon and snapped this as he headed through Cave Junction last night. CJ can do very very well for snow. 

[ShawniganLake]

19 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

We'll see. My one fear for next winter is that we have screaming zonal flow and that cold air is bottled up to the north. Will still feel like winter though either way! We could be looking at an unprecedented -ENSO event. Nothing in the post 1950 era really compares to what some of the models are showing. 

Yea that’s my fear as well. Kind of due for a huge zonal flow winter with massive mountain snow. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, ShawniganLake said:

Yea that’s my fear as well. Kind of due for a huge zonal flow winter with massive mountain snow. 

That could turn out really well here, or not so great. The Silver Falls snow data is incredibly spotty, but this area probably had around 100" total in January 2008, on the other hand 1998-99 was probably around the long term average for snow. 

[Doinko]

2 hours ago, Perturbed Member said:

3rd day in a row of waking up to a light coating of snow. Still snowing here and the radar has been juicy but it is just a hair too warm to stick well. Probably doing well if you're above 500ft here.

Of course the Coast Range microclimate is delivering even at the lowest elevations:

Coast range is doing amazing. Heavy snow during the middle of the day!

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

Pretty sure we had 40 inches on the ground here at the peak in February 2019.   

Yeah, you guys had that massive DUMP. Our snow was more spread out through the month, we never had more than 6" in a single day, but had 1"+ on 18 different days. We also didn't get above 40 after the 2nd, but only had a couple of sub-freezing highs so each day saw melting/compaction. Our shop roof wasn't so lucky, part of the reason it partially collapsed was we had about probably 35-40" up there by early March. I said our peak depth was February 2019, but I was actually incorrect, the peak depth was actually on March 8th that year. 

[Phishy Wx]

7 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Pretty sure we had 40 inches on the ground here at the peak in February 2019.   

but you didn't measure so it doesn't count.  eyeballs add at least 6"

[Doinko]

This is just inland from Tillamook

[Perturbed Member]

2 minutes ago, Doinko said:

Coast range is doing amazing. Heavy snow during the middle of the day!

 

Yeah was just looking at those. Radar continues to look great. Too bad this band didn't come in overnight for us. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Top 5 snow depths at Silver Falls are:

January 1969: 51"

January 2008: 47"

February 1 1950 (No January data  ) 40"

March 1951: 35" 

December 2008: 32" 

My location is about 300' higher than the main park area, and we often have significantly more snow here, so it's quite possible the depth here during those events was much higher. I definitely wish I had lived up here in 2008! 

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, Phishy Wx said:

but you didn't measure so it doesn't count.  eyeballs add at least 6"

Possibly.    We were trying to get to airport and my wife wanted to try and shake snow from our trees that were bending over before we left and she couldn't navigate the yard.   It was just below her shoulders and she is 5'4".    It was pretty crazy.

[FroYoBro]

1 minute ago, Perturbed Member said:

Yeah was just looking at those. Radar continues to look great. Too bad this band didn't come in overnight for us. 

This has been happening all week. The big bands of moisture have been moving in during the day. Details never really worked out well for valley locations since we needed some lucky timing. 38 degrees with moderate rain here. Hoping to at least manage a sub 40 high which is pretty impressive for March. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

42F with the occasional shower.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, FroYoBro said:

This has been happening all week. The big bands of moisture have been moving in during the day. Details never really worked out well for valley locations since we needed some lucky timing. 38 degrees with moderate rain here. Hoping to at least manage a sub 40 high which is pretty impressive for March. 

Up to 33 with flurries here, so we won't manage a sub-freezing high today. On the other hand it seems unlikely we'll get above 34-35, so still a very cold day for March. What's been kind of unique about this pattern is how consistent the cloud cover has been. More typical of a cold/onshore flow pattern in the heart of winter. 

[TacomaWx]

A holy sh*t snow dump at 1400’ not even to the top yet and there’s about 16-18” of snow. About 4” at the bottom trailhead. 

[TT-SEA]

I remain hopeful... timing is remaining steady or even moving up a little.  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

I remain hopeful... timing is remaining steady or even moving up a little.  

You can already see the ridging begin to retrograde by the end. 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

31 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Pretty sure we had 40 inches on the ground here at the peak in February 2019.   

You did, I had 30 0r 32 and you had around 40 I remember.  Was that the deepest depth you've seen there?

[TT-SEA]

Just now, SilverFallsAndrew said:

You can already see the ridging begin to retrograde by the end. 

Whatever... a little warmth and sun would be nice.   That is like saying an arctic blast in the models only lasts a week and might not last forever.   

[TT-SEA]

1 minute ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

You did, I had 30 0r 32 and you had around 40 I remember.  Was that the deepest depth you've seen there?

Yes... but Christmas Day in 2008 was close.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

12 minutes ago, TacomaWx said:

A holy sh*t snow dump at 1400’ not even to the top yet and there’s about 16-18” of snow. About 4” at the bottom trailhead. 

Told ya there would be over 1 foot

[Anti Marine Layer]

8 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

I remain hopeful... timing is remaining steady or even moving up a little.  

If the ridge develops it will be centered over PNW and likely create a very strong inversion in SoCal without any offshore flow.