March 2024 Weather in the PNW

[Rubus Leucodermis]

39 minutes ago, MR.SNOWMIZER said:

God that makes me sick just to think of that heat. 80 is one thing but 100 is insane. It would be like hitting 10 degrees in April, just insane.

I recorded a low of 7F in April once as a teenager in the mountains of New Mexico. And an 18 in May and a 29 in June (not all in the same year). That April low really did a number on the fruit trees but the flowering bulbs bounced back surprisingly well.

[Front Ranger]

Hitting 10 in April would be pretty absurd even for most of the east side. Spokane, Colville, Omak, Moses Lake have all never done it.

Only a few places (other than way up in the Cascades) like Chesaw and Republic have.

[Front Ranger]

6 minutes ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

I recorded a low of 7F in April once as a teenager in the mountains of New Mexico. And an 18 in May and a 29 in June (not all in the same year). That April low really did a number on the fruit trees but the flowering bulbs bounced back surprisingly well.

The coldest I've seen in April was around 7 or 8 in 2013. DEN had a ridiculous 18/6 on 4/10/13. Only April high below 20 on record.

[Timmy Supercell]

3 minutes ago, Front Ranger said:

Hitting 10 in April would be pretty absurd even for most of the east side. Spokane, Colville, Omak, Moses Lake have all never done it.

Only a few places (other than way up in the Cascades) like Chesaw and Republic have.

I've had mid-upper teens in April but maybe not 10.

A few of those mornings in Apr 2021 were matching/setting daily records.

[Timmy Supercell]

May was also dishing out cool mornings (but with mild afternoons) in K-Falls. Amazing what kind of heat was lurking just around the corner a month after that. 

[ShawniganLake]

3 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

In case anyone wants to see a 15-day AI version of the 12Z ECMWF... sort of goes crazy with east coast troughing.  

Don’t even think about getting out and enjoying some March sunshine. Stay home and think about how bad this fire season may or may not be.   

[Phishy Wx]

49 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Some people really get off on it I guess.

good for the palm trees

 

[MossMan]

23 minutes ago, ShawniganLake said:

Don’t even think about getting out and enjoying some March sunshine. Stay home and think about how bad this fire season may or may not be.   

Stay home, Stay safe! 

Probably best to close the blinds as well so you don’t even think about enjoying 2 hours of warm sun. 

[TT-SEA]

46 minutes ago, MossMan said:

Stay home, Stay safe! 

Probably best to close the blinds as well so you don’t even think about enjoying 2 hours of warm sun. 

Reminds me around this same time in March 2020 when a warm spell was in sight and there was some shaming (from the same person) of people cheering it on because it was going to kill people.  Pull whatever levers you can to guilt people.   Parks are deadly on a 65-degree sunny day.   

[ShawniganLake]

54 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

good for the palm trees

 

Saw a dead one today along the highway.  Was gonna snap a pic for the haters to post up on their bedroom ceiling but didn’t get a chance. Maybe tomorrow. 

[Timmy Supercell]

2 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Reminds me around this same time in March 2020 when a warm spell was in sight and there was some shaming (from the same person) of people cheering it on because it was going to kill people.  Because the best thing to stop COVID is cold, crappy weather so everyone stays inside.   Parks were deadly on a 65-degree sunny day.   

Then the whole thing with the murder hornets, still couldn't keep me inside! 

What a year.  

[BLI snowman]

3 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

I guess you could argue we were due for a huge ridge given how easy we got off with the strong Nino this winter.  Still time for big changes in the models though.

We really did.

At no point this winter was there ever a strong longwave ridging pattern over the West Coast.  The warm patterns out here were from coast to coast SW flow-fests.

The -PDO baseline held firm in that respect, and even Alaska had surprisingly low heights most of the time. And the only serious cold air intrusion that we did see into the lower 48 smacked us pretty squarely.

Edited March 8 by BLI snowman

[snow_wizard]

The 18z GFS and GEFS seem to be back on team retrogression again after the big ridge early in week two.

[snow_wizard]

2 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

We really did.

At no point this winter was there ever a strong longwave ridging pattern over the West Coast.  The warm patterns out here were from coast to coast SW flow-fests.

The -PDO baseline held firm in that respect, and even Alaska had surprisingly low heights most of the time. And the only serious cold air intrusion that we did see into the lower 48 smacked us pretty squarely.

The ball does seem to be in our court right now.  I really hope we can hit the big one before that changes.  The really impressive thing is we have not had a 1952-53 or a 1957-58 type loser since 2015-16.  Even that incredible decade had some utter fails.

[SouthHillFrosty]

1 hour ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

I recorded a low of 7F in April once as a teenager in the mountains of New Mexico. And an 18 in May and a 29 in June (not all in the same year). That April low really did a number on the fruit trees but the flowering bulbs bounced back surprisingly well.

How was living in the New Mexico mountains? Must have been pretty cool. 

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

19 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Reminds me around this same time in March 2020 when a warm spell was in sight and there was some shaming (from the same person) of people cheering it on because it was going to kill people.  Pull whatever levers you can to guilt people.   Parks are deadly on a 65-degree sunny day.   

2020 and 2021 really sucked. My brain has mostly erased those years of covid from my memory, it's all a blur now. I remember they closed so many trails in the area, because being outside and healthy is really deadly. What a terrible time period that was. 

[BLI snowman]

4 minutes ago, snow_wizard said:

The ball does seem to be in our court right now.  I really hope we can hit the big one before that changes.  The really impressive thing is we have not had a 1952-53 or a 1957-58 type loser since 2015-16.  Even that incredible decade had some utter fails.

Yeah, and the 1957 Nino reset things somewhat after a 9 year stretch where we were constantly in the default trough position in the winter.  Even 1952-53 acted very traditionally -PDO and had record January cold in AK that almost spilled down here (think 2019-20).

We're coming up on 9 years of a similar, albeit toned down version of the same thing. But interestingly the big Nino didn't seem to shake things up much. Would be ironic if a giant Nina this year did, but odds are it probably won't.

[TT-SEA]

Just now, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

2020 and 2021 really sucked. My brain has mostly erased those years of covid from my memory, it's all a blur now. I remember they closed so many trails in the area, because being outside and healthy is really deadly. What a terrible time period that was. 

There were people around here staking out trailheads and posting pics of license plates on the local facebook page telling people they needed to be arrested for going on a hike in the woods.  The nanny state in full force.  

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

1 hour ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

I recorded a low of 7F in April once as a teenager in the mountains of New Mexico. And an 18 in May and a 29 in June (not all in the same year). That April low really did a number on the fruit trees but the flowering bulbs bounced back surprisingly well.

Coldest I've seen in May was -39 at high camp on Mt denali, 17200' up. Never got to summit that year, too many bad weather days and no opportunity to make a summit bid, ran out of time on our trip and had to return home.

[BLI snowman]

Has anyone checked on the local Maryland or Stampede Pass obits for Phil!?

[TT-SEA]

3 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

Has anyone checked on the local Maryland or Stampede Pass obits for Phil!?

Phil hasn't been on the forum since Feb 28.   

[Meatyorologist]

9 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

Has anyone checked on the local Maryland or Stampede Pass obits for Phil!?

He's probably too busy retrofitting the air circulation system in his house to include smoke filters, that way he's prepped for three weeks from now when Maryland is breathing in every last trunk of the Santiam old growth.

[Meatyorologist]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it atmospheric river events and intense warm rain processes that are really bad for snowpack? I don't think 3-5 days of 35-50F sun will annihilate anything in the mountains. Even if KSEA itself smooches the seventies.

[MossMan]

46 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Reminds me around this same time in March 2020 when a warm spell was in sight and there was some shaming (from the same person) of people cheering it on because it was going to kill people.  Pull whatever levers you can to guilt people.   Parks are deadly on a 65-degree sunny day.   

They were closing parks and boat launches, roping off trails, it was pure insanity. I sure hope we learned something for when the next pandemic hits. 

[MossMan]

Anyway, my snow is getting thin but I still have some! Almost to day 5 with snow on the ground! 

[Front Ranger]

6 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it atmospheric river events and intense warm rain processes that are really bad for snowpack? I don't think 3-5 days of 35-50F sun will annihilate anything in the mountains. Even if KSEA itself smooches the seventies.

Yeah, I think the same pattern a month or so later would do a lot more damage to snowpack. 

[TT-SEA]

12 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it atmospheric river events and intense warm rain processes that are really bad for snowpack? I don't think 3-5 days of 35-50F sun will annihilate anything in the mountains. Even if KSEA itself smooches the seventies.

Totally agree.   Days of sunshine and temps in the 40s can't even melt the little snow in Randy's yard.   Can't imagine the same weather in the mountains will melt 8 feet of snow in a few days.  

[MossMan]

4 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Totally agree.   Days of sunshine and temps in the 40s can't even melt the little snow in Randy's yard.   Can imagine the same weather in the mountains will melt 8 feet of snow in a few days.  

I hit 44 today! 

[the_convergence_zone]

14 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it atmospheric river events and intense warm rain processes that are really bad for snowpack? I don't think 3-5 days of 35-50F sun will annihilate anything in the mountains. Even if KSEA itself smooches the seventies.

This time of year it will do damage to the sun facing side. The SNOTEL sites are almost all in protected spots so it won't do much damage to the statistics. 

[Rubus Leucodermis]

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ocean-temperature-hit-record-high-february-2024-eu-scientists-say-2024-03-07/

[Phil]

50 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Phil hasn't been on the forum since Feb 28.   

 

He’s online now.  

Sorry for not checking in, have been dealing with a family issue in addition to a mountain of work. So my plate is full but hopefully the worst has past.

[Phil]

5 hours ago, Port Angeles Foothiller said:

Queue the Phil return. 

Oh god I’m in for it now. I SWEAR I haven’t looked at LR models in 2+ weeks.  Have no idea what’s going on!

Might have to make myself scarce again until the next trough.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

1 hour ago, Timmy Supercell said:

Then the whole thing with the murder hornets, still couldn't keep me inside! 

What a year.  

I live in (what was) murder hornet central. (It seems they have been wiped out; as far as I know, no new ones were seen last summer.) The actual risk was so overblown it was comical. Yes, they WOULD HAVE been a serious problem for the environment if they were not exterminated... Which is why there was an effort to exterminate them.

I made no changes to my life as a result. Still did lots of hiking. Still took lots of bike rides. Never saw a single giant hornet. Of course I didn't: there never were that many here.

Even in Japan where they are native (and common);people do all sorts of outdoor things without being stung to death by marauding hornets.

[Timmy Supercell]

19 minutes ago, Phil said:

Oh god I’m in for it now. I SWEAR I haven’t looked at LR models in 2+ weeks.  Have no idea what’s going on!

Might have to make myself scarce again until the next trough.

We thought something happened! Nice to see you around

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

If I can line up someone to cover me at work we are going to try and go to Valdez Alaska or possibly other places in Alaska late next week for a bit to enjoy more winter weather and escape what's coming here. Hopefully I can find the help! Should be fun. 

[MossMan]

24 minutes ago, Phil said:

He’s online now.  

Sorry for not checking in, have been dealing with a family issue in addition to a mountain of work. So my plate is full but hopefully the worst has past.

Welcome back! It snowed at my house, Phil!!! 

[Timmy Supercell]

18 minutes ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

I live in (what was) murder hornet central. (It seems they have been wiped out; as far as I know, no new ones were seen last summer.) The actual risk was so overblown it was comical. Yes, they WOULD HAVE been a serious problem for the environment if they were not exterminated... Which is why there was an effort to exterminate them.

I made no changes to my life as a result. Still did lots of hiking. Still took lots of bike rides. Never saw a single giant hornet. Of course I didn't: there never were that many here.

Even in Japan where they are native (and common);people do all sorts of outdoor things without being stung to death by marauding hornets.

I started doing the majority of my outdoor activities on certain hours of the day (unless its not a warm day then it doesn't matter) Either the late morning or early evening. Most of the times I've been stung by a yellow jacket/hornet are between 12-4pm. It's been a few years since anything got me. I now have a property with even more of the critters than my other place in Klamath used to get, and so far this rule hasn't failed me. 

[Phil]

3 minutes ago, MossMan said:

Welcome back! It snowed at my house, Phil!!! 

Praise the snow gods! How much?

I’m so out of the loop I feel like a new member again. Will have to go back and read the posts I missed.

[Timmy Supercell]

His last day of activity was also when we had some respectable storms pounding the Ohio Valley region. Our winter time thunderstorms are usually not that exciting, but we had ones like in June or May, occur on Feb 28..

[MossMan]

3 minutes ago, Phil said:

Praise the snow gods! How much?

I’m so out of the loop I feel like a new member again. Will have to go back and read the posts I missed.

4”!