December 2020 Weather Observations for the PNW

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

With nothing of interest having happened here yet, let's hope the EC can throw us a bone.

[tenochtitlan 292]

I actually enjoyed this snow event as much or even more than some events that dropped more snow, got colder or lasted longer (ahem ahem December 2009 in Seattle). 

I think a big part of it was my expectations. The models never agreed on how much it would snow here, showing anything from a trace to six inches. Knowing that it was a marginal situation, I didn't expect much at all, so when it actually started snowing it was a great surprise.

The snow was pretty heavy so the landscape transformed quickly, and it happened while it was still daytime up here, so I could take a walk in the forest. Then of course there were the dynamics...the sudden change from rain to sleet to snow, record high temperatures and precipitation. 

If this had happened in late February after a snowless winter, I would be a little disappointed. But as it is, it makes me look forward to January hopefully having some more fun events that also get people further south snow and cold. I don't even mind much that it's melting now since it was such a fun day.

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

15 minutes ago, SouthHillFrosty said:

How many inches did Port Angeles get?

4 or 5, judging by the photos of a friend staying at a cabin near there. Though I'm sure it varied greatly depending on altitude and proximity to salt water.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Time to see if we will finally have something interesting to track down this way.

[Poulsbo Snowman 299]

Just now, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Time to see if we will finally have something interesting to track down this way.

Think today exhausted most of us.  

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

6 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

With nothing of interest having happened here yet, let's hope the EC can throw us a bone.

Something “of interest” could happen sooner than you realize. Clown range has never exactly had stellar accuracy, and that is even more so now that the models are starved of initializing data.

[TT-SEA 1981]

This band over my area now is not a c-zone... it appears to be the back edge of this system and its moving to the northeast.

Its not snowing here.   Its barely doing anything but what is falling is drizzle.  It also seems to be warming up a little.

 

[seattleweatherguy 440]

MMQB

 

Which model was most accurate in terms of snowfall and temperatures? As well as 850 ect

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

2 minutes ago, Poulsbo Snowman said:

Think today exhausted most of us.  

Most, but not all. Fortunately for y'all there were some on here who didn't have to get themselves exhausted since we knew there was no chance for anything interesting to impact this part of the region.

The last significant weather memory I have is the Labor Day firestorm where we had 10 straight days of over 350+ ppm AQI. Nothing of note has happened since nor has it been modeled to impact us. Not even much of anything in the clown range. Just doldrums.

[Poulsbo Snowman 299]

1 minute ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Most, but not all. Fortunately for y'all there were some on here who didn't have to get themselves exhausted since we knew there was no chance for anything interesting to impact this part of the region.

You and I received almost the same amount of snow.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

1 minute ago, Poulsbo Snowman said:

You and I received almost the same amount of snow.

Bummer, would be nice to get down towards freezing again at some point.

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

1 minute ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Bummer, would be nice to get down towards freezing again at some point.

FWIW, you have recorded a temperature 5˚F colder than any I have so far this season.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

1 minute ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

FWIW, you have recorded a temperature 5˚F colder than any I have so far this season.

The 23F from back in October? lol I think it got up to like 55F that day so not really that memorable. We have gotten plenty of late Oct cold snaps and those colder temps would be more impressive if the high temps were colder, without that...not memorable to me.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

48

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

Just now, TigerWoodsLibido said:

The 23F from back in October? lol

Still counts. And you have had at least as many freezes as I have (if not more).

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Three

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

1 minute ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

Still counts. And you have had at least as many freezes as I have (if not more).

Which is normal. We have still nights down here that can give us colder temps.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 4

[Phil 11121]

1 hour ago, High Desert Mat? said:

So the SSW is confirmed and in progress now? Just want to know the details of it. 

Hasn’t started yet. Verbatim models get it going right around New Years, or in roughly 10 days.

[TacomaWaWx 3577]

Pretty crazy weather today. Apparently we didn’t get any more than a trace of snowfall...but still incredible considering it was 58 just a few hours earlier. 58/34 with 1.47” of rain today. 

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

4 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Which is normal. We have still nights down here that can give us colder temps.

Bellingham averages 14"/year of snow. Eugene averages 6.

What happened today is normal.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

1 minute ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

Bellingham averages 14"/year of snow. Eugene averages 6.

What happened today is normal.

We average less than that lol. And you're right. Which is why I was curious as to why more Oregon folks weren't posting maps about maybe getting some action down the road.

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

Just now, TigerWoodsLibido said:

We average less than that lol

https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?or2709

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

2 minutes ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?or2709

Pretty sure that doesn't include the nuke that got dropped on those averages from 1996-2003. EUG didn't measure snow for some stupid reason for like 15 years.

[paulb/eugene 269]

https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?or2706
 

Used to be 6.6

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 5

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

Just now, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Pretty sure that doesn't include the nuke that got dropped on those averages from 1996-2003.

From that page:

Quote

Period of Record : 06/01/1938 to 06/09/2016

And you were wrong about freezes. Just pulled that data. KBLI averages 64.3 freezes/year. KEUG averages 53.9.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

1 minute ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

From that page:

And you were wrong about freezes. Just pulled that data. KBLI averages 64.3 freezes/year. KEUG averages 53.9.

Cool, hopefully something fun comes our way down here. I'm gonna keep hoping.

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 6

[Jesse 8021]

6 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Cool, hopefully something fun comes our way down here. I'm gonna keep hoping.

Stop making stuff up.

[bainbridgekid 2999]

When was the last time Seattle set a record high on the same day it snowed?

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

I'm curious as to what the 1991-2020 avg will be? Will all those missing years just be counted as zeroes?

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 7

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 8

[TacomaWaWx 3577]

9 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

When was the last time Seattle set a record high on the same day it snowed?

I don’t know, pretty incredible phenomenon but usual in 2020! We had a 20 degree temperature drop in 2 hours. Was also the warmest December day in several years and our first measurable snowfall in 3 years all in the same day! Pretty remarkable stuff. Wish I’d been there to see it in person but it was still cool seeing all the reports, and it was only a trace of snow in Tacoma anyhow. 

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 9

[bainbridgekid 2999]

1 minute ago, TacomaWaWx said:

I don’t know, pretty incredible phenomenon but usual in 2020! We had a 20 degree temperature drop in 2 hours. Was also the warmest December day in several years and our first measurable snowfall in 3 years all in the same day! Pretty remarkable stuff. Wish I’d been there to see it in person but it was still cool seeing all the reports, and it was only a trace of snow in Tacoma anyhow. 

Absolutely an incredible day.

You got plenty of snow in February 2019 though. Less than 2 years ago.

 

[TacomaWaWx 3577]

3 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

Absolutely an incredible day.

You got plenty of snow in February 2019 though. Less than 2 years ago.

 

Yeah I’d much rather miss this than February 2019. That would have been depressing. I’m thinking it’ll snow next month or maybe February we will see...don’t think this will be the only show of the season. Either way a very cool day in terms of statistics can’t recall any event quite like it. 

[TigerWoodsLibido 5265]

Day 10

[hawkstwelve 5609]

60/32 spread today, including an almost 20 degree drop in 2 hours, with 1.21 inches of rain and a half inch of snow.

Pretty fun day! Here's to some more days like this in January!

[Brian_in_Leavenworth 2778]

31 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

When was the last time Seattle set a record high on the same day it snowed?

I'd be shocked if it had ever happened before, since winter record highs for Seattle are often around 60 or higher.

[tenochtitlan 292]

51 minutes ago, Rubus Leucodermis said:

Bellingham averages 14"/year of snow. Eugene averages 6.

What happened today is normal.

The 14" is from 1949 to 2016 at the airport, right? Wouldn't it be a bit less for the last 30 years (and also in Fairhaven or downtown)?

At my place we've averaged something like 7 or 8 inches the six winters I've been here. Though, that's including the virtually snowless winters of 2014-15 and 2015-16.

[North_County 244]

Looks like the snow is finally done for the night, and the melt-off has begun. I can already hear the slush dropping from the branches when I step outside. Ended right at 3", which is more-or-less inline with the more realistic model runs.

[Brian_in_Leavenworth 2778]

33 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

When was the last time Seattle set a record high on the same day it snowed?

Not only a record high, but also record rainfall.  Which may have happened before, say during a warm pineapple express.  But then add snow?  Will probably never happen again in our lifetimes.

[Rubus Leucodermis 1014]

1 minute ago, tenochtitlan said:

The 14" is from 1949 to 2016 at the airport, right? Wouldn't it be a bit less for the last 30 years (and also in Fairhaven or downtown)?

At my place we've averaged something like 7 or 8 inches the six winters I've been here. Though, that's including the virtually snowless winters of 2014-15 and 2015-16.

You are correct. I was using long-term averages for both EUG and BLI.

[MossMan 9472]

Haven’t been able to get online for hours, internet satellite blocked by snow build up. Power has also gone off and on. Finally got 1 bar of cell service to post. Ended up with about 4”. First plow of the season happened tonight! 

[bainbridgekid 2999]

5 minutes ago, Brian_in_Leavenworth said:

I'd be shocked if it had ever happened before, since winter record highs for Seattle are often around 60 or higher.

I was thinking this may have been the first time. If it's happened though it was probably after an overrunning event that quickly transitioned to a pineapple express. Bellingham sees quicker warmups when the wind switches to SE in those setups than Seattle though.

[BLI snowman 5938]

36 minutes ago, bainbridgekid said:

When was the last time Seattle set a record high on the same day it snowed?

I mentioned it earlier, but I don't believe it has happened before.

There was a twoish day gap in November 2014, with a record high of 58 on 11/27 and 0.8" early on the 29th there.

I've looked and found a couple of other two day gaps there, including 12/31/1996 which had a record of 56 two days after the 9" snowstorm.

[MossMan 9472]

Currently 33.3 degrees.