December 2014 Observations for the Pacific Northwest

[Guest Winterdog]

Down to 27F so if the clouds (grrr) don't mess things up it should be my 10th low in the teens this fall.  Also with 3 sub-freezing highs and 3" of snow, this autumn is a rare bird indeed.

[snow_wizard]

A pretty unusual inversion situation right now.  Brisk north winds blowing below the inversion layer in many places.  The temp fell like a rock this evening here in spite of the breeze still coming up at times.  This also appears to be killing the down sloping east winds I was worried about for tonight.

[Jesse]

Down to 27F so if the clouds (grrr) don't mess things up it should be my 10th low in the teens this fall. Also with 3 sub-freezing highs and 3" of snow, this autumn is a rare bird indeed.

Had my 5th sub-freezing high this season so far today and I've also seen 5" of snow thus far. Not bad for only December 2nd, especially considering the imminent blockbuster January on the way.

[wx_statman]

I hadn't thought about it until today, but the last few weeks have been similar to 1994. That year we also had a cold snap in mid-November (37/30 at PDX with 0.3" of snow) and again in early December, when PDX pulled off 36/24 along with a 1" to 1.5" snowfall around town on December 5th.

 

That was also a Nino.

[Jesse]

I hadn't thought about it until today, but the last few weeks have been similar to 1994. That year we also had a cold snap in mid-November (37/30 at PDX with 0.3" of snow) and again in early December, when PDX pulled off 36/24 along with a 1" to 1.5" snowfall around town on December 5th.

 

That was also a Nino.

 

Warm summer and record warm September (tied with this year at PDX) in 1994 too.

 

January 1995 wasn't too exciting.

[wx_statman]

Warm summer and record warm September (tied with this year at PDX) in 1994 too.

 

January 1995 wasn't too exciting.

 

But February rocked my 12 year old world!

[Abbotsford_wx]

Agassiz has one of the best snowfall records for southern BC.

 

 

 

Notes: 1928 was left out, as no snowfall data was recorded that year. Dec 2000 and March 2001 were missing snowfall, so I subbed in Abbotsford data for those months.

 

 

[Bham_Guy]

I hadn't thought about it until today, but the last few weeks have been similar to 1994. That year we also had a cold snap in mid-November (37/30 at PDX with 0.3" of snow) and again in early December, when PDX pulled off 36/24 along with a 1" to 1.5" snowfall around town on December 5th.

 

That was also a Nino.

 

I was wondering if there was any relation to 1994. The Portland area might do well later in the winter snow-wise, with Bellingham remaining fairly dry, assuming we see another decent cold snap or two. Hopefully we'll all see a little snow.

[wx_statman]

Good stuff, Abbotsford_wx.

 

Confirms a couple things. The long term trend is for less snowfall, and the 1940's sucked.

[wx_statman]

I was wondering if there was any relation to 1994. The Portland area might do well later in the winter snow-wise, with Bellingham remaining fairly dry, assuming we see another decent cold snap or two. Hopefully we'll all see a little snow.

 

Portland also had a near miss in early January 1995. We did get some wet snowfall and highs in the 30's, but I remember forecasts being a lot more dreamy. It was a bust.

[Snowman5678]

Live pic... snow survives another day.

 

 

Snow survived another day here too, High of 35 after a low of 19. 

[Snowman5678]

Don't you have school?

 

Yeah I did but I had free block first so I didn't have to be at school until 9:00.  

[TT-SEA]

A pretty unusual inversion situation right now.  Brisk north winds blowing below the inversion layer in many places.  The temp fell like a rock this evening here in spite of the breeze still coming up at times.  This also appears to be killing the down sloping east winds I was worried about for tonight.

 

 

You were worried about that?  

 

As long as you are worrying about a couple degrees here or there in the middle of the night... might want to look at the IR satellite and that massive shield of high clouds moving in!

[Deweydog]

You were worried about that?

 

As long as you are worrying about a couple degrees here or there in the middle of the night... might want to look at the IR satellite and that massive shield of high clouds moving in!

Sounds on par with a marine push nightmare.

[TT-SEA]

Sounds on par with a marine push nightmare.

You need to be on a boat in a strong push!

[Deweydog]

You need to be on a boat in a strong push!

Tim, you have no idea...

[BLI snowman]

You need to be on a boat in a strong push!

R.I.P. to all the victims of the July 2010 marine layers.

[Deweydog]

Little downslope tonight.

[GHweatherChris]

You were worried about that?  

 

As long as you are worrying about a couple degrees here or there in the middle of the night... might want to look at the IR satellite and that massive shield of high clouds moving in!

Your crush on Jim is so cute.

[Jesse]

I wonder if any precip will rotate up our way tonight. It's 29 currently so it would certainly be something frozen or freezing if so.

[TT-SEA]

R.I.P. to all the victims of the July 2010 marine layers.

 

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2009/06/aftermath.html

 

.  

[BLI snowman]

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2009/06/aftermath.html

 

.  

 

Where was FEMA!!?

[TT-SEA]

Where was FEMA!!?

I know... right?

[TT-SEA]

Little downslope tonight.

Indeed... 36 here with a dp of 18.

[BLI snowman]

I know... right?

 

And actually that event Cliff is erroneously referring to as a marine push was in fact a strong outflow boundary from the decaying severe thunderstorm complex over NW OR. June 4, 2009. Big time, baby. Remember it well. 

[MossMan]

Currently 26 degrees, feels like a heat wave!

[TT-SEA]

And actually that event Cliff is erroneously referring to as a marine push was in fact a strong outflow boundary from the decaying severe thunderstorm complex over NW OR. June 4, 2009. Big time, baby. Remember it well. 

 

 

It was a combo.

[Tyler Mode]

19 for a low in Battle Ground. 

 

Then dense fog quickly formed.  It was thick for much of the morning, then it burned off and more clouds rolled in.  Forecast high was around 42-44, ended up at 38.

 

No east wind here until this evening, and it's just a drift.

 

Meanwhile at Crown Point, gusts at 90 mph on the sensor.

 

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?sid=D6193&table=1&banner=off

Was 19 when I left my house about 45min ago. I wish we would stay cold and dry all week, most all of my snow is still preserved right now.

 

[Guest Winterdog]

MossMan, on 02 Dec 2014 - 9:10 PM, said:

Currently 26 degrees, feels like a heat wave!

What was your high temp today?

[BLI snowman]

It was a combo.

 

Calling it a marine push is definitely selling it short. Even for the Seattle area, the atmosphere was highly charged that day and it was a convection influenced event. Maybe a once in a decade type thing. 

[Tyler Mode]

I love this kind of stuff!

 

I have excel sheets/graphs back to December 1996 for my Vancouver station.

 

4th year of my Battle Ground station on December 10th...

Not sure if anyone is interested but I like data and I like graph's so here is my November weather data. 

 

 

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

So I went to my property in eastern wa for the thanksgiving weekend. Property is 25 miles nw of republic about 8 miles south of the Canadian border. At 2:30 friday afternoon it was raining and 43. 24 hrs later it was clear and windy after a little snow and 2 degrees! We had a low of 14 below. Whole different world working in those temps.

[snow_wizard]

19 for a low in Battle Ground. 

 

Then dense fog quickly formed.  It was thick for much of the morning, then it burned off and more clouds rolled in.  Forecast high was around 42-44, ended up at 38.

 

No east wind here until this evening, and it's just a drift.

 

Meanwhile at Crown Point, gusts at 90 mph on the sensor.

 

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?sid=D6193&table=1&banner=off

 

I always know when Crown Point is being blasted.  When there is a strong easterly gradient but it's calm here they have insane winds.  It seems to have something to do with inversions.  Could someone explain the mechanics of how an inversion has the power to stop outflow winds here?

[snow_wizard]

So I went to my property in eastern wa for the thanksgiving weekend. Property is 25 miles nw of republic about 8 miles south of the Canadian border. At 2:30 friday afternoon it was raining and 43. 24 hrs later it was clear and windy after a little snow and 2 degrees! We had a low of 14 below. Whole different world working in those temps.

 

-14 is pretty impressive for this early in the season.

[snow_wizard]

Good stuff, Abbotsford_wx.

 

Confirms a couple things. The long term trend is for less snowfall, and the 1940's sucked.

 

I personally think 1938 through 1945 was the most horrible period on record here for lame winters.  Jan 1943 was a notable exception but other than that....horrible.

[snow_wizard]

Very surprisingly the GFS shows a minus PNA returning later in week two.  Regardless I think we get one more round this winter and it will be the biggy.

[Phil]

No -PNA for 5-6 weeks

[MR.SNOWMIZER]

Here is my view off my deck and the little cabin. Talked to a guy who has lived up there for 25 years and the coldest he has seen it there is - 42 and the deepest snow about 6 feet.

[TT-SEA]

Very surprisingly the GFS shows a minus PNA returning later in week two. Regardless I think we get one more round this winter and it will be the biggy.

One more round left? And then we spend the next 11 months analyzing the next exciting winter!

[TT-SEA]

Here is my view off my deck and the little cabin. Talked to a guy who has lived up there for 25 years and the coldest he has seen it there is - 42 and the deepest snow about 6 feet.

Love it... how long is the drive?