March 2024 Weather in the PNW

[Frontal Snowsquall]

3 hours ago, Phishy Wx said:

It's my alma mater and I grew up there..  The school's football team were referred to as the Gamecocks in the early 1900s by our local Newspaper The State in Columbia, SC.  It was a reference to Thomas Sumter known as 'The Fighting Gamecock' and was a US Revolutionary War hero.  I think at one point when I was in college there in the mid 90s PETA tried to get us to change the nickname, but it didn't work

Interesting, thanks for the history.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

23 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

And down goes #4 Auburn to #13 Yale!

Awesome ending! Always fun to see an Ivy League school beat a Power Five.

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

March MADNESS continues. ITS COMING!!

[Meatyorologist]

Got a little band of weak early Springtime convection heading into Seattle. Should be a quick spurt of heavy rain and a 5F temp drop, maybe some wind. Starting to get the kind of sun angles now that bring in convective prospects under BSF.

[Cold Snap]

2 hours ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

The closest lightning strike I experienced involved the snapping sound of sparks from induced charges in room I was in, simultaneous with a blinding flash of light. Then a deafening crash of thunder the tiniest of split seconds later. Target was a power pole about 50 feet away.

I remember in September 2019 seeing a bolt of lightning strike a tree less than a quarter of a mile away. Loudest boom of thunder I have ever witnessed in my life probably.

[Meatyorologist]

16 minutes ago, Cold Snap said:

I remember in September 2019 seeing a bolt of lightning strike a tree less than a quarter of a mile away. Loudest boom of thunder I have ever witnessed in my life probably.

Back in August 2018 I was on a Mississippi River cruise in New Orleans when a band of thunderstorms stalled over the city. One lightning bolt struck the front face of the levee exactly where I was looking. That thunder shook my chest... Amazing stuff. That storm ended up making for the worst flood in DT New Orleans since Katrina. Drove back to my cousin's house through streets flooded with 1-2 feet of water. The parking garage we parked in echoed the constant CG barrage that was occurring right overhead, and the manholes on the street had geysers due to the water overload.

[Meatyorologist]

Sometime back in Summer 2011 we had a surprise morning midlevel thunderstorm above the marine layer. I was in summer camp at the time. We were walking our way to John Rodgers elementary, when just as we were approaching the building we started getting dry air bolts of lightning, no more than a mile away. It was crazy since there was literally zero rain, and the sun, while blocked behind the stratus, was out of the way of the midlevel clouds, so it still looked like a perfectly normal Summer morning. Just a brief lightning barrage then back to our regularly scheduled programming. Wethre is weerd sometimes

[Meatyorologist]

That's intense for a lee cyclone... Tight gradients all across the central US and into the intermountain west. Technically out to sea too given the intense anticyclone offshore from California, if you wish to partially attribute that to the cyclone as well.

[BLI snowman]

45 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Got a little band of weak early Springtime convection heading into Seattle. Should be a quick spurt of heavy rain and a 5F temp drop, maybe some wind. Starting to get the kind of sun angles now that bring in convective prospects under BSF.

When BSF becomes NSBSF

[Rubus Leucodermis]

2 hours ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

12z EPS. Could be worse. Maybe the early April ridge will be short lived…

No TTT? Throw it out!

Seriously, though, that chart shows conditions that are basically climo.

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

58 minutes ago, Cold Snap said:

I remember in September 2019 seeing a bolt of lightning strike a tree less than a quarter of a mile away. Loudest boom of thunder I have ever witnessed in my life probably.

Closest I've come to getting struck by lightning is 15-20 ft away. Me and 2 buddies were climbing the east face of Mount Moran in Wyoming, at around 11:30am (a very early time for thunderstorms) we peaked over a Ridgeline and saw a thunderstorm in the distance, we made a stupid choice and decided to summit because we were only 1 pitch away and thought we'd still have time to summit and then rappel to a safe location, but unfortunately it was a quick moving thunderstorm, once we started rappelling the thunderstorm had already reached us, we decided to ditch most of our metal gear for the time being and wait out the storm sheltered between a couple spikes, after a couple minutes of not much lightning, we started hearing intense buzzing, our hair started to rise, and then lighting hit the side of the pinnacle right above us, it was EXTREMELY loud, we all got some electricity to run through us, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. The occasional buzzing continued for 5-10 more minutes but luckily no lightning near us. Those 10 minutes felt like an eternity, since then I have had a fear of thunderstorms while climbing, which I guess has helped me make more rational decisions.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

2 hours ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

March MADNESS continues. ITS COMING!!

And the Beavers just won!  

[westcoastexpat]

I wouldn't trust the balmy operational GFS - ensemble support is certainly there for a troughy, cool stretch to start April.

[Meatyorologist]

Nice cell to the west of Eugene.

[Meatyorologist]

8 minutes ago, westcoastexpat said:

I wouldn't trust the balmy operational GFS - ensemble support is certainly there for a troughy, cool stretch to start April.

Lots of spread dependent on how harshly the GOA trough cuts off in the midrange. Most solutions are less aggressive and sweep it into the area cleanly from the NW... Others go a little cookier in the Pacific and pop up a ridge of varying degrees right overhead. It also seems that the ridger solutions stay warm for longer or maybe even potentiate further amplification of the ridge in the longer range, while the cleaner NWly solutions generally continue the NW flow.

[The Blob]

Beautiful evening out today.

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

36 minutes ago, The Blob said:

Beautiful evening out today.

 Nice pics! We also got to see a pretty nice rainbow this evening, Spring has begun! 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Nice day. 

[Front Ranger]

1 hour ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

Closest I've come to getting struck by lightning is 15-20 ft away. Me and 2 buddies were climbing the east face of Mount Moran in Wyoming, at around 11:30am (a very early time for thunderstorms) we peaked over a Ridgeline and saw a thunderstorm in the distance, we made a stupid choice and decided to summit because we were only 1 pitch away and thought we'd still have time to summit and then rappel to a safe location, but unfortunately it was a quick moving thunderstorm, once we started rappelling the thunderstorm had already reached us, we decided to ditch most of our metal gear for the time being and wait out the storm sheltered between a couple spikes, after a couple minutes of not much lightning, we started hearing intense buzzing, our hair started to rise, and then lighting hit the side of the pinnacle right above us, it was EXTREMELY loud, we all got some electricity to run through us, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. The occasional buzzing continued for 5-10 more minutes but luckily no lightning near us. Those 10 minutes felt like an eternity, since then I have had a fear of thunderstorms while climbing, which I guess has helped me make more rational decisions.

When climbing 14ers here, the general rule of thumb is you want to summit by 11 or so. Risk of thunderstorms often rapidly increases from that point on in the summer.

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

15 minutes ago, Front Ranger said:

When climbing 14ers here, the general rule of thumb is you want to summit by 11 or so. Risk of thunderstorms often rapidly increases from that point on in the summer.

Yeah 11am is a good time to turn back in CO. In the teton range in Wyoming which is a little less prone to thunderstorms, usually I'd turn back at 12ish, although this incident happened in September which usually doesn't start getting thunderstorms till 12:30-1 at the earliest, our 11:30am thunderstorm was a rare event for September.

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

March madness sure has had a lot of madness this year. A 13 seed, three 11 seeds, a 14, a 12, and maybe another 12 soon if grand canyon keeps their current lead.  Also all three 8vs9 seeds has had the 9 win!

[Chewbacca Defense]

9 hours ago, BLI snowman said:

The Mt. St. Helens eruption, although obviously on a much bigger scale, created a similar effect with the sound waves traveling outward and was even heard hundreds of miles away in ID and BC and broke windows in Oak Harbor. But the topography and temperature changes closer to the mountain may have limited the sound wave propagation for nearby places where the eruption produced no sound. A little before my time but I don't think we were able to hear it in Clark County.

https://stylusradio.org/post/80549530367/the-sound-or-silence-of-an-erupting-volcano-on

My wife grew up in Corvallis at the time and said they could hear it and see the top of the ash plume.  She said they got a dusting of ash from it at some point as well.

[MossMan]

9 hours ago, BLI snowman said:

The Mt. St. Helens eruption, although obviously on a much bigger scale, created a similar effect with the sound waves traveling outward and was even heard hundreds of miles away in ID and BC and broke windows in Oak Harbor. But the topography and temperature changes closer to the mountain may have limited the sound wave propagation for nearby places where the eruption produced no sound. A little before my time but I don't think we were able to hear it in Clark County.

https://stylusradio.org/post/80549530367/the-sound-or-silence-of-an-erupting-volcano-on

Another one I remember! Actually one of my first childhood memories. Very similar sound but I’m pretty sure a bigger boom/thud over the Oso slide, and scared the heck out of my 3.5yr old self! I remember running into my parent’s bedroom that morning freaking out. 

[Phil]

7 hours ago, MossMan said:

Today’s North Bend view! (From about 2hrs ago) 

I guess it’s cloudy at Tim’s house, then.

[TT-SEA]

3 minutes ago, Phil said:

I guess it’s cloudy at Tim’s house, then.

It was cloudy across the entire region today... mostly mild level stuff.   Got up to 57.   We had less rain out here during the day than places to the west as is typical with a negatively tilted front lifting north.  And had some sun from mid afternoon into the early evening.

[Phil]

6 hours ago, Front Ranger said:

I believe I've heard Phil reference the TDWAB.

[Phil]

Finally fixed my anemometer. Was a 9hr job, fucked up the soldering twice and had to restart from the beginning both times.

Amazing how the smallest amount of water ingress can cause such widespread damage.

[Chewbacca Defense]

8 hours ago, GHweatherChris said:

I had no idea I have pneumonia, but my body did and has been fighting it for weeks, they got me on so much antibiotics it's ridiculous.

That's crazy you had pneumonia and didn't know it.  Glad you were able to get to the hospital and get things taken care of. 

When I was in college I didn't have insurance so I ignored the case of bronchitis I had until I woke up one morning and could not breath.  I felt like I was drowning.  My girlfriend at the time had asthma, so I managed to get a quick phone call to her asking her to come over with her inhaler.  Luckily she had a key because I could not get out of bed.  My vision was starting to grey out as I heard her pull into the driveway.  I did a double or triple dose of her inhaler, and it opened up my lungs....and got my heart racing.  In hindsight, I'm lucky I didn't do more harm than good with all those inhaler hits.  She took me to urgent care and a chest x-ray confirmed pneumonia, and that was after the inhaler opened things up.  I coughed up stuff I did not know could come from a human body.

It took me a while to bounce back from that. 

Take care of yourself and get lots of rest.

 

[Phil]

4 hours ago, Meatyorologist said:

Back in August 2018 I was on a Mississippi River cruise in New Orleans when a band of thunderstorms stalled over the city. One lightning bolt struck the front face of the levee exactly where I was looking. That thunder shook my chest... Amazing stuff. That storm ended up making for the worst flood in DT New Orleans since Katrina. Drove back to my cousin's house through streets flooded with 1-2 feet of water. The parking garage we parked in echoed the constant CG barrage that was occurring right overhead, and the manholes on the street had geysers due to the water overload.

Ha, August 2018 was the month I filmed a lightning bolt hitting my nextdoor neighbor’s tree. Or..kind of (was just off-screen to the left).

We usually get 1 or 2 of these every summer but catching it on camera is another story. Seems 90% of the time I’m either not home or sleeping/busy. This is the one exception to-date.  

 

[GHweatherChris]

19 minutes ago, Chewbacca Defense said:

That's crazy you had pneumonia and didn't know it.  Glad you were able to get to the hospital and get things taken care of. 

When I was in college I didn't have insurance so I ignored the case of bronchitis I had until I woke up one morning and could not breath.  I felt like I was drowning.  My girlfriend at the time had asthma, so I managed to get a quick phone call to her asking her to come over with her inhaler.  Luckily she had a key because I could not get out of bed.  My vision was starting to grey out as I heard her pull into the driveway.  I did a double or triple dose of her inhaler, and it opened up my lungs....and got my heart racing.  In hindsight, I'm lucky I didn't do more harm than good with all those inhaler hits.  She took me to urgent care and a chest x-ray confirmed pneumonia, and that was after the inhaler opened things up.  I coughed up stuff I did not know could come from a human body.

It took me a while to bounce back from that. 

Take care of yourself and get lots of rest.

 

I have just a bit of it, but my body has been fighting it like the plague apparently, so glad they found it after my heart attack scare and treat it, but I got other shite going on that needs to be addressed now besides that.

[Meatyorologist]

7 minutes ago, GHweatherChris said:

I have just a bit of it, but my body has been fighting it like the plague apparently, so glad they found it after my heart attack scare and treat it, but I got other shite going on that needs to be addressed now besides that.

Glad you have a game plan moving forward at least. Only route is upwards. Good luck Chris.

[RaleighHillsRunner]

Was just about to post ‘wasn’t it supposed to rain at some point this evening/tonight?’ Immediately a burst of hail for 90secs. Now silent again…spring time baby!

[Snownerd3000]

 

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

2 hours ago, Phil said:

Finally fixed my anemometer. Was a 9hr job, 33 up the soldering twice and had to restart from the beginning both times.

Amazing how the smallest amount of water ingress can cause such widespread damage.

You spent 9 hours, fixing an anemometer...? How expensive is that thing for it to be worth 9 hours of work?!?!

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

00z gfs looks great for Texas solar eclipse! 37 currently, 27/54 day. Good night!

[Meatyorologist]

Thunderstorm heading into Olympia!

[Phil]

2 hours ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

You spent 9 hours, fixing an anemometer...? How expensive is that thing for it to be worth 9 hours of work?!?!

It’s an expensive, high quality ultrasonic unit. Had to contact a foreign vendor to modify it to work with Davis ISS.

If it was a standard, cheap ass Davis unit I would’ve just ordered a replacement, my dude.

[The Blob]

1 hour ago, Meatyorologist said:

Thunderstorm heading into Olympia!

[Sunriver Snow Zone]

32 now and a low of 31

[ShawniganLake]

Rainy Saturday