December 2020 Weather Observations for the PNW

[TigerWoodsLibido]

18 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

This is absolutely true.  The handful of times I’ve driven up there have always been an adventure.  A lot of it seems to be road design issues.

Yeah, come to Eugene if you want to see how freeway revolts destroyed the city's driving infrastructure. Especially the bush-league east-west, which takes over 20 mins too long to get thru town if one is going from Bend to Florence.

[Phil]

3 hours ago, High Desert Mat? said:

Does anyone know what the pna was during the winter of ‘16-‘17? Really curious about that. 

Negative. Though it was positive most of November.

classic +QBO/-ENSO with post-super niño off equator +SSTAs feeding into +QBO NPAC High tendencies.

[Phil]

1 hour ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Last frame of the druncle

Yeah that vortex is far enough south that I’m not worried about it. Actually positive height anomalies over the Arctic, verbatim.

Last winter had lowest anoms centered over western Arctic/N-AK. Looks like a subtle difference on a map, but the implications are regionally significant.

[bainbridgekid]

Today's cold front has a pretty incredibly sharp leading edge. You can even see the shadow extending like 30 miles East of the East side.

 

[AbbyJr]

9 minutes ago, Phil said:

Yeah that vortex is far enough south that I’m not worried about it. Actually positive height anomalies over the Arctic, verbatim.

Last winter had lowest anoms centered over western Arctic/N-AK. Looks like a subtle difference on a map, but the implications are regionally significant.

What are your thoughts on this Phil? Looks like the GEM is trying to build a strong GOA ridge.

[Rubus Leucodermis]

A 28/53 day. Now 43˚F and falling rapidly. Will it freeze before the storm comes in later tonight? That is the question.

[Deweydog]

10 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

Today's cold front has a pretty incredibly sharp leading edge. You can even see the shadow extending like 30 miles East of the East side.

 

It was pretty cool.  You could watch the shadow vividly crawl up the  west slopes of Hood about an hour ago.

[Phil]

1 hour ago, dolt said:

By far, the most annoying drivers are the ones that move here from a flat as a pancake midwestern town. Herr Derr we never close schools where I come from unless it's 12" deep. Meanwhile, their town has dry snow that almost always has much better grip than the 3 or 4 inches of wet slop that we typically get here and often freezes overnight into a sheet of ice. Plus their town uses 3 cubic miles of salt per year to melt the snow and rust out their vehicles. Not to mention that they have about 3 snow plows for every 5 residents. 

Salt can make things worse when it gets really cold, though. Turns dry/drying snow into slush and contributes to black ice development.

[Phil]

8 minutes ago, AbbyJr said:

What are your thoughts on this Phil? Looks like the GEM is trying to build a strong GOA ridge.

That’s solid. Okhotsk Sea/E-Asia low and Scandi-Icelandic High is a really good combo for wave driving.

 

[Rubus Leucodermis]

Yowza! Just noticed this in the NWS forecast for my area. Could get exciting here.

Quote

.MONDAY NIGHT...Very windy. Rain likely in the evening, then rain after midnight. Rain may be heavy at times after midnight. Rainfall amounts one to three inches possible. Lows in the lower to mid 40s. Northeast wind 15 to 25 mph increasing to south 25 to 40 mph with gusts to 55 mph after midnight.

 

[Phil]

For what little it’s worth, I still think models are underestimating potential out there during the 2nd half of the month.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

[SilverFallsAndrew]

The line of clouds looked cool coming in. 

[Phil]

I just time traveled back from Jan 22, 2021. This was the forecast for downtown Seattle. No joke.

[kokaneekidz]

2 minutes ago, Phil said:

I just time traveled back from Jan 22, 2021.

This was the forecast for downtown Seattle. No joke.

Looks like the forecast for Mt Washington IMHO

[Phil]

1 minute ago, kokaneekidz said:

Looks like the forecast for Mt Washington IMHO

Washington State.

President Biden declared it a federal disaster area, freeing up FEMA money for clothes, food, and snow shovels.

[kokaneekidz]

Just now, Phil said:

Washington State.

President Biden declared it a federal disaster area, freeing up FEMA money for clothes, food, and snow shovels.

EST was the DEAD giveaway

[Phil]

2 minutes ago, kokaneekidz said:

EST was the DEAD giveaway

Shït how did I miss that.

[kokaneekidz]

Just now, Phil said:

Shït how did I miss that.

THen I just wandered on to weather.com to verify and sure enuf they are under a WSW and have NWesterly winds of 84MPH presently.

[Phil]

You’re no fun at all.

[Tyler Mode]

56 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

Today's cold front has a pretty incredibly sharp leading edge. You can even see the shadow extending like 30 miles East of the East side.

 

It was awesome watching this approach and have "sunset" happen well above the horizon. 

[The Swamp]

I wore shorts today and have been wearing shorts for weeks.

Put down some fertilizer on the grass today.  Balmy.  Low 50's.  Boy my grass is super green.

Probably have to mow again in a few weeks.

Even my daffodils are starting to pop up.

Days will be getting longer soon too.

Sun angles.

[Link]

2 hours ago, dolt said:

By far, the most annoying drivers are the ones that move here from a flat as a pancake midwestern town. Herr Derr we never close schools where I come from unless it's 12" deep. Meanwhile, their town has dry snow that almost always has much better grip than the 3 or 4 inches of wet slop that we typically get here and often freezes overnight into a sheet of ice. Plus their town uses 3 cubic miles of salt per year to melt the snow and rust out their vehicles. Not to mention that they have about 3 snow plows for every 5 residents. 

Funny thing is rural schools even in the midwest tend to shut down or delay for the stupidest things which will be the few schools that show up on the list as closed while town schools stay open.  In fact in the old days they would always close while city schools worked hard staying open which it seemed if too many kids sneezed rural schools would shut!

[Link]

58 minutes ago, kokaneekidz said:

Looks like the forecast for Mt Washington IMHO

EST gives the game away!

[Link]

23 minutes ago, puyallupjon said:

I wore shorts today and have been wearing shorts for weeks.

Put down some fertilizer on the grass today.  Balmy.  Low 50's.  Boy my grass is super green.

Probably have to mow again in a few weeks.

Even my daffodils are starting to pop up.

Days will be getting longer soon too.

Sun angles.

Our grass has been growing pretty moderate too and it's past time to mow.  It just wont' stop.    

[Link]

9 hours ago, Chewbacca Defense said:

 

I think that is more of a Southeastern states thing.  I think they are a little less likely to cancel as you progress further north.  Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina are borderline getting frozen precip to begin with, especially in the lowlands, so there is almost always a thick layer of ice in the mix.  The higher elevations are usually very sparsely populated, so they do not have the budget for the equipment.  In the lowlands, it just does not happen enough to justify the investment in the equipment.  I can remember seeing graders from the local construction companies being used to plow the snow.  I tried to buy chains for my car once and could only find one set (they would not fit my car).  

I'm sure there are exceptions to my very broad generalizations, but you get the gist.  I got mocked pretty heavily when I first moved to Bellingham for my "OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO GET TO THE STORE AND GET HOME!!!" mentality when snow started to fall.  Thankfully I got over it pretty quick.

Doesn't Bellingham panic as the Seattle snow panic videos show?

[bainbridgekid]

6 minutes ago, Link said:

Doesn't Bellingham panic as the Seattle snow panic videos show?

I went to WWU there and found they freaked out significantly less there than in Seattle. It snows more, but I think the biggest difference is the snow sticks to the roads much more often in Bellingham so people are more used to it.

Campus still came to a stand still if it snowed more than 6 inches though.

 

[The Swamp]

11 minutes ago, Link said:

Our grass has been growing pretty moderate too and it's past time to mow.  It just wont' stop.    

I can't remember the last time I've mowed in December wearing shorts while the sun angles were changing with a downslope wind warming my cockles.

[Chewbacca Defense]

4 minutes ago, Link said:

Doesn't Bellingham panic as the Seattle snow panic videos show?

They do tend to close the schools pretty quick, but there's a lot of gnarly hills around town.  Rarely see the panicked runs on the grocery stores like you see in the south. For the most part people are able to still get out and about (unless they live in the gnarly hill sections).  

 

My favorite memory of Atlanta was when Birmingham (about 2 hrs west) got buried with snow, so they completely shut down the Atlanta in anticipation of the storm.  The storm completely fell apart between Birmingham and Atlanta, I think they got some flurries at the NWS office.  NWS, school and city/county governments caught a lot of crap from that one.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

A lot of precip on the 18z. 

[TT-SEA]

59 minutes ago, puyallupjon said:

I wore shorts today and have been wearing shorts for weeks.

Put down some fertilizer on the grass today.  Balmy.  Low 50's.  Boy my grass is super green.

Probably have to mow again in a few weeks.

Even my daffodils are starting to pop up.

Days will be getting longer soon too.

Sun angles.

Grass is really green here too... and I noticed today that the daffodils are poking up.   They will probably not change much for a couple months though.    Is fertilizing in December worth the effort?

[The Swamp]

2 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Grass is really green here too... and I noticed today that the daffodils are poking up.   They will probably not change much for a couple months though.    Is fertilizing in December worth the effort?

When it's 55 the winterizer turf building formula does wonders.  Especially before the rains move in.  It's perfect timing.  If things go right, or wrong for Jim, I'll be mowing in January.

[Jesse]

Chilly day up in the snow in Gifford Pinchot. Didn’t break freezing by much up the Wind River Valley.

Looks like we had a 47/36 day back home.

[bainbridgekid]

Pretty incredible day today. Rare to hit 60 here on a sunny day in December but I just got there. Everett hit 59 and SEA hit 58.

[The Swamp]

7 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Chilly day up in the snow in Gifford Pinchot. Didn’t break freezing by much up the Wind River Valley.

Looks like we had a 47/36 day back home.

I was in the Giffod Pinchot today too.  Hiked into Packwood Lake.

[The Swamp]

8 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Chilly day up in the snow in Gifford Pinchot. Didn’t break freezing by much up the Wind River Valley.

Looks like we had a 47/36 day back home.

 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I have always wanted to go to Packwood Lake.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth]

Here is last nights GEFS 35 day run, starting with day 17.

 

[TT-SEA]

25 minutes ago, puyallupjon said:

When it's 55 the winterizer turf building formula does wonders.  Especially before the rains move in.  It's perfect timing.  If things go right, or wrong for Jim, I'll be mowing in January.

Good to know.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

2 minutes ago, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

Here is last nights GEFS 35 day run, starting with day 17.

 

Not bad. Arctic blast January 4th.