March 2024 Weather in the PNW

[snow_wizard]

This has to be one of the strangest days I've ever seen on the visible satellite loop.  On this one you can see the leading edge of a cloud deck moving northward while the mass of clouds in general is moving southward.

wxloop vis1km_color 12 (washington.edu)

[snow_wizard]

5 hours ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Warm ups and cool downs are normal in spring, lets just hope the warm part don't take over before its time for warm weather.

Often times the bigger the warmup the bigger the cool down as well.  The most classic one I ever saw was in April 1984.  It got into the 80s around mid month and we actually had snow before the month was over.  The mid 1980s was a really interesting period for weather.

[snow_wizard]

3 hours ago, bainbridgekid said:

One lives in Enumclaw and the other lives in Olympia.

You might be right about the thermometer. Could be a combination of fewer clear calm nights than normal and a finicky thermometer. Or maybe they moved it closer to a runway? Doubt that though.

The Olympia thing has really been a puzzle this season.  Many days their thermometer seems too high, but then they get a couple of days it seems like it should be.  I think they have just been warmer often times this season in relation to Seattle than what we have been used to.

[TT-SEA]

10 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

This has to be one of the strangest days I've ever seen on the visible satellite loop.  On this one you can see the leading edge of a cloud deck moving northward while the mass of clouds in general is moving southward.

wxloop vis1km_color 12 (washington.edu)

Seems like a pretty typical spring satellite loop to me... weak front dies overhead and the sun this morning de-stabilized the air mass which produced bubbling clouds over the area.

[snow_wizard]

Meanwhile....a nippy 43/25 day here.  Really solid cold for March.  I think SEA will rank about 7th coldest for the first week of March in the period of record.  Top 10th percentile stuff.

[Meatyorologist]

KSEA pulled off a respectable 28F this morning. Clouds and some weak precip have held temps around 42F this afternoon so depending on how well this overcast sticks around for the next two hours we could be looking at a double digit negative departure today. Pretty slick and sly for the backend of a days-long maritime trough.

[TT-SEA]

7 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

Often times the bigger the warmup the bigger the cool down as well.  The most classic one I ever saw was in April 1984.  It got into the 80s around mid month and we actually had snow before the month was over.  The mid 1980s was a really interesting period for weather.

The one day heat wave and then crash scenario is the absolute worst for people who don't have a thing for cold.   Luckily this doesn't appear to be a one day freak warm spell but more sustained.

[snow_wizard]

1 minute ago, TT-SEA said:

Seems like a pretty typical spring satellite loop to me... weak front dies overhead and the sun this morning de-stabilized the air mass which produced bubbling clouds over the area.

I think the backward moving edge on that cloud deck is odd.  This morning we had that moisture streaming in that just disappeared for hours as it moved south of Seattle.

[snow_wizard]

Just now, Meatyorologist said:

KSEA pulled off a respectable 28F this morning. Clouds and some weak precip have held temps around 42F this afternoon so depending on how well this overcast sticks around for the next two hours we could be looking at a double digit negative departure today. Pretty slick and sly for the backend of a days-long maritime trough.

We got that little injection of continental air yesterday on the back edge of the trough though.  Really solid cold air mass.  Camp Muir dropped to -4 this morning so it's deep cold.

[Port Angeles Foothiller]

My body is ready for a 70 burger. 

[snow_wizard]

4 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

The one day heat wave and then crash scenario is the absolute worst for people who don't have a thing for cold.   Luckily this doesn't appear to be a one day freak warm spell but more sustained.

I just don't want to see a March 2019 redux.  On that one it went from cold to mega torch.  I ended up with a low of 59 on the warmest day with that after having a low of 23 not long before that.  That was just a total freak.

[TT-SEA]

5 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

I think the backward moving edge on that cloud deck is odd.  This morning we had that moisture streaming in that just disappeared for hours as it moved south of Seattle.

Front died... remnants being pulled north while increase in onshore flow producing marine layer clouds at a different level. 

[the_convergence_zone]

13 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

The Olympia thing has really been a puzzle this season.  Many days their thermometer seems too high, but then they get a couple of days it seems like it should be.  I think they have just been warmer often times this season in relation to Seattle than what we have been used to.

Most likely explanation is that area just has a crazy shallow inversion that only forms under the right conditions because it is just ever so slightly lower in elevation than surrounding areas. 

I used to live in Madison, WI and KMSN would behave the same way. Wisconsin doesn't have a ton of terrain but that airport was built on a swamp and even the tiny bit of elevation differences was enough. There were some nights in the winter where it would be like 10 F or more below the surrounding areas, especially if there was snow on the ground. Austin, TX is another airport with similar behavior although not as extreme. 

That said, I still give it like a 10-20% chance that something was up with the sensor. 

 

[TT-SEA]

19 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

KSEA pulled off a respectable 28F this morning. Clouds and some weak precip have held temps around 42F this afternoon so depending on how well this overcast sticks around for the next two hours we could be looking at a double digit negative departure today. Pretty slick and sly for the backend of a days-long maritime trough.

45 for a high at SEA.  

[TT-SEA]

ECMWF shows mid to upper 40s tomorrow... then mid 50s on Friday ahead of incoming system... then back to low 50s with a roaring south wind and some rain on Saturday.   

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Really like the end of the gfs. Looks like we will go right back into a trough period after a brief dry spell.  

Really hope we stay out of the 60's, already planning on going to the cabin during that ridge period because it will be much cooler there with plenty of snow still on the ground.

[TT-SEA]

2 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

Really like the end of the gfs. Looks like we will go right back into a trough period after a brief dry spell.  

Really hope we stay out of the 60's, already planning on going to the cabin during that ridge period because it will be much cooler there with plenty of snow still on the ground.

The 18Z GFS after 300 hours is truly worthless.   But obviously a return to some type of troughing would be climo.

And its not really a brief dry spell... looks to be around 7 or 8 days on this run.    That is decent for mid-March.

[DeepFriedEgg]

29 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

Most likely explanation is that area just has a crazy shallow inversion that only forms under the right conditions because it is just ever so slightly lower in elevation than surrounding areas. 

I used to live in Madison, WI and KMSN would behave the same way. Wisconsin doesn't have a ton of terrain but that airport was built on a swamp and even the tiny bit of elevation differences was enough. There were some nights in the winter where it would be like 10 F or more below the surrounding areas, especially if there was snow on the ground. Austin, TX is another airport with similar behavior although not as extreme. 

That said, I still give it like a 10-20% chance that something was up with the sensor. 

 

I have noticed that too. KMSN is always significantly cooler than surrounding areas on calm, dry nights.

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

6 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

The 18Z GFS after 300 hours is truly worthless.   But obviously a return to some type of troughing would be climo.

And its not really a brief dry spell... looks to be around 7 or 8 days on this run.    That is decent for mid-March.

The dry period will not last 7 days, 100% promise. And no its not worthless because it has picked up on patterns that far out before even dry ones! 

[TT-SEA]

Just now, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

The dry period will not last 7 days, 100% promise. And no its not worthless because it has picked up on patterns that far out before even dry ones! 

Not sure about the dry spell length... 5-7 days seems typical if you look at March history.   And the GFS is not picking up on anything yet since every run shows something completely different with how it handles the ridge.  We all know the 00Z run will look nothing like the 18Z run after day 10.    But when the GFS starts being consistent with a theme then it definitely can win at times.

[Blizzard777]

1 hour ago, snow_wizard said:

This has to be one of the strangest days I've ever seen on the visible satellite loop.  On this one you can see the leading edge of a cloud deck moving northward while the mass of clouds in general is moving southward.

wxloop vis1km_color 12 (washington.edu)

Under the belly look from my nest cam…Timelapse

 https://video.nest.com/clip/128511e72ba14800b4ba35e5e1275850.mp4

[Blizzard777]

Low of 25 here at 7:27 am

44 for a high and currently 42*

[BLI snowman]

PDX evidently snuck up to 50 degrees for a few seconds today, while literally every other station in the metro area stayed in the 40s. Not a surprising development, but a devastating one nonetheless. 

Edited March 7 by BLI snowman

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

33 degrees currently and a 45/5 day, its always nice when we get a 40+ degree range on a day. We get one almost every day in summer but only a few times a month in winter.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

2 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

PDX evidently snuck up to 50 degrees for a few seconds today, while literally every other station in the metro area stayed in the 40s. Not a surprising development, but a devastating one nonetheless. 

Devastating, indeed!

Have any damage estimates been released for the harm caused by a high of 50˚F instead one of 48 or 49? Any idea how long it might take to rebuild?

[Rubus Leucodermis]

32/42 for the day here. Now 39.7˚F.

[MossMan]

I should have snow on the ground until the weekend! Pretty impressive for March! 

[TT-SEA]

46 minutes ago, Blizzard777 said:

Under the belly look from my nest cam…Timelapse

 https://video.nest.com/clip/128511e72ba14800b4ba35e5e1275850.mp4

Your timelapse videos are always fascinating... I usually watch them a few times.   Its mesmerizing.   

[Tanis Leach]

Mark has forked winter. 

[Tanis Leach]

On a more angry note, I got a 2nd hit and run in 3 months. It went in to the shop for repairs today, and I discovered it right before I brought it in. 

[Cascadia_Wx]

2 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

Often times the bigger the warmup the bigger the cool down as well.  The most classic one I ever saw was in April 1984.  It got into the 80s around mid month and we actually had snow before the month was over.  The mid 1980s was a really interesting period for weather.

This is such flawed, but very human, logic.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

38/25 today 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Just now, Cascadia_Wx said:

This is such flawed, but very human, logic.

As humans we are all fatally flawed.

[RentonHill]

58 minutes ago, Blizzard777 said:

Under the belly look from my nest cam…Timelapse

 https://video.nest.com/clip/128511e72ba14800b4ba35e5e1275850.mp4

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing

[Omegaraptor]

49 minutes ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

33 degrees currently and a 45/5 day, its always nice when we get a 40+ degree range on a day. We get one almost every day in summer but only a few times a month in winter.

What's the biggest diurnal you've seen in Sunriver? I once experienced a 95/36 day there, per the airport reading.

[Cascadia_Wx]

2 minutes ago, Tanis Leach said:

On a more angry note, I got a 2nd hit and run in 3 months. It went in to the shop for repairs today, and I discovered it right before I brought it in. 

On an even angrier note. Hottboxx PDXX somehow snuck a 50 in today. Only station on the west side within maybe 500 miles? Insult to injury since they couldn’t even muster 20s this morning.

Meanwhile, back in reality, I had a 47/28 day here. Morning fog and frost, then partly sunny skies in the afternoon before a thick mid layer cloud deck moved in. Could keep it from getting as cold tonight, sadly.

[RentonHill]

2 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

On an even angrier note. Hottboxx PDXX somehow snuck a 50 in today. Only station on the west side within maybe 500 miles? Insult to injury since they couldn’t even muster 20s this morning.

Meanwhile, back in reality, I had a 47/28 day here. Morning fog and frost, then partly sunny skies in the afternoon before a thick mid layer cloud deck moved in. Could keep it from getting as cold tonight, sadly.

 

[Cascadia_Wx]

1 minute ago, RentonHill said:

 

Thank you for engaging with me.

[Blizzard777]

18 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Your timelapse videos are always fascinating... I usually watch them a few times.   Its mesmerizing.   

 

7 minutes ago, RentonHill said:

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing

That clearing pushing south was fascinating.  I took a picture of it before I even did the timelapse as it stuck out in the sky.  Anyhow…they are fun to watch! 

[Cascadia_Wx]

5 minutes ago, Blizzard777 said:

 

That clearing pushing south was fascinating.  I took a picture of it before I even did the timelapse as it stuck out in the sky.  Anyhow…they are fun to watch! 

The way the mid level clouds rolled in earlier did look really cool, especially when the cloud deck was still high enough to see the snow covered mountains. Very wintery looking sky this afternoon.