April 2024 Weather in the PNW

[T-Town]

36.5 here this morning. My low for the month of April. 

[snow maniac]

Brr 28 and heavy frost this morning hopefully my garden survives. 

[Tyler Mode]

29.6 here with beautiful sunshine.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Frosty with a low of 34 here. One of the later frosts I’ve seen. It’s always rare after the first part of April.

Ended up with a 54/40 yesterday. Midnight low.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Patchy frost and 33.9˚F.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Frost 

[Blizzard777]

Hit 32 at 5:59 am this morning

currently 34*

[Cascadia_Wx]

Would be pretty funny if PDX didn’t even manage to get below 40. They’ve eliminated the ability to look at five-minute obs there for the time being, so it’s hard to say.

Looks like VUO hit at least 35.

[Phishy Wx]

9 hours ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

You complain about every season. But we can get some really nice falls out here. Love those crisp October days.

its just better where most trees turn colors.  IE: New England, Appalachians, etc

[Phishy Wx]

got down to 27 brrrr

currently 29

looks like some early blossoms and tree foliage got burned

[SnarkyGoblin]

Beautiful chilly and sunny morning in Seattle.  Birds sound happy. 

My second favorite kind of weather behind snow.

[MossMan]

6 hours ago, NWbyNW said:

Our state is jumping right into things. The Washington Department of Ecology declared a drought emergency for nearly the entire state.  They say we had a very dry winter, which we did.  They say we have low snow pack and it's diminishing fast.  “There is simply not enough water contained in mountain snow and reservoirs to prevent serious impacts for water users in the months ahead.”

According to WA Ecology, statewide snowpack stands at 68% as of Tuesday, with some areas — including the Olympic Mountains, Lower Yakima and the north Sound — registering “significantly lower.”

“Streamflows in many basins are already below 75% of normal,” Ecology wrote. “Forecasts for April through September have Chelan River streamflows at 52% of normal, while the Stehekin, Methow and Okanagan rivers are forecasted to have 59% of normal streamflows.”

Guess it’s time to move to Everett, Seattle, Sea Tac, or Tacoma! They are in great shape!! 

[MossMan]

I hit 31.8 frosty degrees! 

Edited April 17 by MossMan

[Cascadia_Wx]

3 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

its just better where most trees turn colors.  IE: New England, Appalachians, etc

The mountains get some gorgeous fall colors out here. Especially the higher alpine meadows or places with larch trees.

There is usually pretty good color around town and in the lowlands too. That said, I would like to get out to New England during the fall someday.

[Cascadia_Wx]

7 minutes ago, MossMan said:

Guess it’s time to move to Everett, Seattle, Sea Tac, or Tacoma! They are in great shape!! 

Think you might be the first one to point this out! My guess is the gray is meant to show urban areas or something.

Edited April 17 by Cascadia_Wx

[MossMan]

7 hours ago, Phil said:

Fall is my least favorite season by far.

November is my favorite month! It’s in the Fall so I guess Fall is my favorite season!

[Cascadia_Wx]

I’m definitely liking the uptick in precip chances once we get to the last week of the month. 

[ShawniganLake]

32F. A bit milder than yesterday but still back to back freezes. 

[TT-SEA]

1 hour ago, snow maniac said:

Brr 28 and heavy frost this morning hopefully my garden survives. 

Not a good idea to plant the garden before late April.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

12 minutes ago, MossMan said:

November is my favorite month! It’s in the Fall so I guess Fall is my favorite season!

September used to be my favorite month, prior to about 15 years ago. Now it is one of my least favorite.

[Cascadia_Wx]

12 minutes ago, MossMan said:

November is my favorite month! It’s in the Fall so I guess Fall is my favorite season!

With your tastes that really surprises me, since November is hands down the month we get wayyy darker and stormier compared to just a month or two before. I mean I love it, but I would have assumed your favorite was a summer or midwinter month. At any rate I commend you for your versatility!

[SnarkyGoblin]

20 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Think you might be the first one to point this out! My guess is the gray is meant to show urban areas or something.

So I actually read about that yesterday.  Apparently, it's because the urban areas have larger storage facilities for water and can plan accordingly pretty far in advance.

The non-urban core is more dependent on consistent snow runoff due to having less storage.

[Phishy Wx]

23 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

The mountains get some gorgeous fall colors out here. Especially the higher alpine meadows or places with larch trees.

There is usually pretty good color around town and in the lowlands too. That said, I would like to get out to New England during the fall someday.

over here the only deciduous have been human planted for the most part.  I mean there are some cottonwoods in the river bottoms, some Aspens around but most are ornamental.  New England fall is almost religious some years. one of my best memories of living in NH 

[TT-SEA]

3 minutes ago, SnarkyGoblin said:

So I actually read about that yesterday.  Apparently, it's because the urban areas have larger storage facilities for water and can plan accordingly pretty far in advance.

The non-urban core is more dependent on consistent snow runoff due to having less storage.

As I mentioned yesterday... the Seattle area gets its water supply from the Chester Morse Reservoir and its at 100% of normal which is almost always the case regardless of the weather since we have so much cushion out here.  

[Cascadia_Wx]

3 minutes ago, SnarkyGoblin said:

So I actually read about that yesterday.  Apparently, it's because the urban areas have larger storage facilities for water and can plan accordingly pretty far in advance.

The non-urban core is more dependent on consistent snow runoff due to having less storage.

That was my second thought. The urban core of greater Seattle obviously has more money and resources at their disposal compared to the hinterlands that compose the other 98% of the state, geographically.

[Phishy Wx]

7 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Not a good idea to plant the garden before late April.

over here the rule of thumb for the old timers is wait until the snow is off of the north face of Mica Peak (just S/SE of Liberty Lake)

Usually mid may ish

[Cascadia_Wx]

2 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

over here the only deciduous have been human planted for the most part.  I mean there are some cottonwoods in the river bottoms, some Aspens around but most are ornamental.  New England fall is almost religious some years. one of my best memories of living in NH 

Sounds like you need to do some exploring outside the city. I bet there are great colors in the Purcells and up toward the Salmo-Priest wilderness.

[Phishy Wx]

1 minute ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Sounds like you need to do some exploring outside the city. I bet there are great colors in the Purcells and up toward the Salmo-Priest wilderness.

There are even some out on the undeveloped parts of Liberty Lake and up on Mica Peak, just not the caliber of what i'm use to.  its ok.  Up on Mt Spokane there are a few meadows that pop too

[Cascadia_Wx]

After 8am and there is still frost in the shade. Not too shabby for the latter half of April.

Almost surprised this “event” didn’t bring Jim back around.

[Phishy Wx]

apparently the Dubai mega flooding was cloud seeding gone wrong.  Opps!

[Cascadia_Wx]

1 minute ago, Phishy Wx said:

apparently the Dubai mega flooding was cloud seeding gone wrong.  Opps!

Saw that one coming.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

15 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

There are even some out on the undeveloped parts of Liberty Lake and up on Mica Peak, just not the caliber of what i'm use to.  its ok.  Up on Mt Spokane there are a few meadows that pop too

The PNW has fall color, and is not a total dud in this respect (see for example coastal California). But it also definitely falls short of the best regions for fall color.

In my book, New England is No. 2 on the fall color list. NE Utah (and SE Idaho) is No. 1. I went to college there, and even exchange students from New England had to admit the fall colors were phenomenal there. The mountains are dominated by a mix of maples, aspens, and firs, so you have the reds and oranges New England is famous for, the clear yellows the Colorado is famous for, all contrasting with the sombre dark green of the firs.

The pity is that it’s a strongly continental climate, and the first winter storms come early and hard. The beauty typically lasts for perhaps a week or two before an arctic blast strips everything bare. That may cause some to rate New England higher, just because their color season is longer, but for the time it is at its peak, it is hard to beat the mountains of NE Utah and SE Idaho.

[Blizzard777]

I’m suppose to push off Sunday to the Midwest for some fun with storms but it’s not looking great to me.  Curious your thoughts on any action.  Oklahoma will be the target at this point. 
I only have access to the GFS and it’s showing some gulf moisture being drawn up into the pocket. Your thoughts????

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Would be pretty funny if PDX didn’t even manage to get below 40. They’ve eliminated the ability to look at five-minute obs there for the time being, so it’s hard to say.

Looks like VUO hit at least 35.

What site are you using? 5min obs are working fine for me.

[LowerGarfield]

This is such a bad article and doesn't take into account local conditions or wildfires.  How can you accurately predict that Seattle will have three weeks of bad air at this point? https://mynorthwest.com/3957635/brace-yourself-for-weeks-of-poor-air-quality-in-2024-seattle-residents/

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

September used to be my favorite month, prior to about 15 years ago. Now it is one of my least favorite.

Why was it ever your favorite month?

[Phil]

3 minutes ago, LowerGarfield said:

This is such a bad article and doesn't take into account local conditions or wildfires.  How can you accurately predict that Seattle will have three weeks of bad air at this point? https://mynorthwest.com/3957635/brace-yourself-for-weeks-of-poor-air-quality-in-2024-seattle-residents/

You can’t.

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Phishy Wx said:

over here the only deciduous have been human planted for the most part.  I mean there are some cottonwoods in the river bottoms, some Aspens around but most are ornamental.  New England fall is almost religious some years. one of my best memories of living in NH 

Inverse out here, most conifers are human planted. I have one volunteer pine growing right now, which is the first time it’s ever happened.

Meanwhile deciduous hardwoods pop up like weeds everywhere throughout the year. Any piece of land left alone will be forested within 30 years. Ma’ nature desperately wants to reclaim the earth from us human vermin.  

[Cascadia_Wx]

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

Why was it ever your favorite month?

Could have something to do with living in different climate thousands of miles away from yours.

[Phil]

1 minute ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Could have something to do with living in different climate thousands of miles away from yours.

That still doesn’t compute. I get autumn is more exciting in the PNW but September pretty “blah” everywhere.