December 2014 Observations for the Pacific Northwest

[MossMan]

Transformers now blowing all around us lighting up the sky, it's insane out there! Pretty run of the mill!!

[Bham_Guy]

I see it has already been mentioned, but PDX had an instant gust to 74 mph in December 1995. Its too bad the NWS was using 5 second averages as the "gust" in that era, which is why 62 mph got locked in as the peak "gust". That was definitely the more significant and damaging windstorm.

 

PDX also gusted to 69 mph in November 1981. I think the NWS overlooked that one.

 

They made a correction:

 

https://twitter.com/NWSPortland/status/543237711356628992

[Front Ranger]

Over 60,000 currently without power in the Puget Sound region: https://pse.com/accountsandservices/ServiceAlert/Pages/Outage-Map.aspx

[Skagit Weather]

Wind just gusted to 34 here. Nothing crazy, but strongest gust of the year. Hoping I might get a chance to break my station record of 40.

[Snowman5678]

Transformers now blowing all around us lighting up the sky, it's insane out there! Pretty run of the mill!!

Lots of flashes here too.

[luvssnow_spokane]

I think my area might be kind of sheltered from the wind as there is not much going on here. Just got back from a walk to the mailbox and back it is basically calm with a mild gust once and while. My wind gauge still shows the strongest gust at 33.2mph.... our strongest winds were over 2 hours ago.

[MossMan]

And the power is out. My wife is still determined to finish dishes.

[MossMan]

Defiantly the biggest windstorm in years here, must be gusting in the 60mph+ range now.

[Front Ranger]

Defiantly the biggest windstorm in years here, must be gusting in the 60mph+ range now.

 

Definitely one of the most common word mix-ups.

[seattleweatherguy]

I think my area might be kind of sheltered from the wind as there is not much going on here. Just got back from a walk to the mailbox and back it is basically calm with a mild gust once and while. My wind gauge still shows the strongest gust at 33.2mph.... our strongest winds were over 2 hours ago.

Not much here either

[wx_statman]

They made a correction:

 

https://twitter.com/NWSPortland/status/543237711356628992

Nice. I was just going off the hourly obs which showed 39g69 at the peak of the 1981 storm.

[Guest Winterdog]

Just a little breezy here. I can hear the wind in the higher elevations but so far here it's just the wind chimes tinkling once in awhile.

[MossMan]

Just a little breezy here. I can hear the wind in the higher elevations but so far here it's just the wind chimes tinkling once in awhile.

Wow, you really must be sheltered. Currently giving its all here to your west.

[TT-SEA]

Calmer conditions moving north quickly.

[stuffradio]

Definitely one of the most common word mix-ups.

It is pretty defiant.

[GHweatherChris]

Calmer conditions moving north quickly.

Thanks.

 

So grateful you are here to settle the masses.

 

We had several gusts over 50 here, and a few neighborhoods around us lost power.

 

Pretty run of the mill though, I am very glad you were here the whole time to downplay everything.

[stuffradio]

Saturna Island is getting gusts of 74.

[snow_wizard]

I see it has already been mentioned, but PDX had an instant gust to 74 mph in December 1995. Its too bad the NWS was using 5 second averages as the "gust" in that era, which is why 62 mph got locked in as the peak "gust". That was definitely the more significant and damaging windstorm.

 

PDX also gusted to 69 mph in November 1981. I think the NWS overlooked that one.

 

That Nov 1981 storm is often overlooked in general.  That was one of my favorite windstorms of all time.  The NWS had such a good handle on that one I knew exactly what time to arrive on the shores of Lake Washington to watch all hell break loose.  About 15 minutes after I arrived the wind went from around 10 mph to at least 60 in a matter of seconds.  I often wonder why that storm is so overlooked.

[MossMan]

Just sitting in the darkness listening to the roar outside...I forgot just how much I love windstorms!!

[Gradient Keeper]

After waiting and waiting the Wind Storm finally arrived east of I-205 around 5-6 PM! I was outside for about an hour experiencing(and enjoying)very strong gusts over 50mph and there was one particular burst of 63mph! that nearly snapped both my Fir and Elm tree in half! There is tree damage. It ripped some of my neighbors shed apart and pieces of the roof are in my back yard. I also found a 100+lb 15' long beam and just wow for a gust to be able to rip that off the shed and to lift it in the air suspending it long enough to clear my fence and end up in my backyard. What power! I witnessed many power flashes off to my south-southeast also. I was standing in my driveway keeping an eye on our trees and wow that gust was incredible and a bit scary. I would hear the wind building to my south, then surprisingly to my east, then it just hit out of nowhere with incredible force and with a terrific sound. Comparing to the major wind storm of 2006 this was really quite similar. I would have to think this is now bordering on a Major Windstorm criteria? If we saw more widespread 55-65mph gust reports it would have been. Just think we went from a forecast for gusts 45-50+, to gust 45-55 maybe 60mph, then back to 45-55, and we ended up with 60mph+! A legitimate Wind Storm has again finally struck Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington!

 

I think I have a good handle on why the winds ramped significantly up despite a meager PDX-EUG peaking at -6.5mb and PDX-MFR gradient maxing out at only at -8.3mb. Typically the rule of thumb for gusts in the northern Willamette Valley for even just 40-45mph you need a PDX-MFR of -12mb. The pressure pattern between Portland and Medford was far less than ideal or impressive. Remember a few WRF runs showed a PDX-EUG of -12 to -14mb! NOW that would have been insane widespread damage would have occurred. This storm was the first since November 1981 to cross right over the critical 130 W, 40 N line for classic Pacific Northwest Windstorms. In fact, it nearly took the same trajectory and track. It was very strong peaking around 972-973mb and only slowly weakened as it moved north off the Oregon Coast, but occlusion did not swing inland over us. The culprit, at least I believe so, was the strong jet streak modeled over 140mph that blasted up from the south-southwest(Many of the 250mb GFS images I posted showed this) moved right up over the Willamette Valley. Humidity values dropped significantly too under the very warm air mass. You can see this as well on Water Vapor Imagery this evening how it races up quickly as the low lifted northward. I believe that caused extremely efficient mixing of the very strong winds aloft(seen on several WRF 4km soundings) towards the surface at times and kind of at random. The winds aloft were aligned almost identically with the N-S isobaric field over the Willamette Valley too for good momentum transfer forced downward. At least that's as much as my puny amateur weather geek mind can grasp. Feel free to chime in if any of this is incorrect.

[snow_wizard]

Wow, you really must be sheltered. Currently giving its all here to your west.

 

I'm getting the same kind of protection here.  I've probably had a couple of gusts to 30 or so and that's about it.  Any time there is any easterly component to the surface gradient the speeds are greatly reduced here.  Ironically this and other areas that are blocked tonight are the same ones that get blasted with east winds.

[IbrChris]

Here are the peak gusts today at some stations around Oregon. Keep in mind I haven't QC'd any of these observations, they are raw and there could be some suspect ones. ASOS obs are almost certainly trustworthy. Gusts in mph.

117 Squaw Peak

90 Mt Hebo
90 Humbug Mtn
89 Mary's Peak
88 near Heppner 
81 Mt Howard 
76 Calimus
75 North Bank
72 Yaquina Bridge (Newport)
71 Riddle Mtn
71 Bald Mtn (Newberg)
70 Grant County Airport 
69 Long Creek
68 Yachats
68 Signal Tree
68 Quail Prairie Lookout
68 Port Orford
68 Red Mound
68 Horse Ridge
68 Onion Mtn Lookout
67 Portland (PDX)
67 Flynn Prairie
66 Lexington
63 Garibaldi 
62 Aurora (UAO)
62 Portland - Glen Jackson Bridge
61 McMinnville (MMV) before power lost
61 Timberline Lodge 
61 Gold Beach 
60 Vancouver (VUO)
60 Newport (ONP)
60 Redmond (RDM)
60 Wasco
59 Florence 
58 Forest Grove
56 Dunes
55 Troutdale (TTD)
55 Prineville
55 Madras
54 Eugene (EUG)
54 Tillamook (TMK)
54 Scappoose (SPB)
54 Cannon Beach 
54 Bend
54 Condon
53 Astoria (AST)
53 Salem (SLE)
53 Happy Valley
52 Hillsboro (HIO)
52 Clackamas
48 Corvallis (CVO)
48 North Bend (OTH)
46 Turner
45 Florence airport 
45 Stayton

[snow_wizard]

After waiting and waiting the Wind Storm finally arrived east of I-205 around 5-6 PM! I was outside for about an hour experiencing(and enjoying)very strong gusts over 50mph and there was one particular burst of 63mph! that nearly snapped both my Fir and Elm tree in half! There is tree damage. It ripped some of my neighbors shed apart and pieces of the roof are in my back yard. I also found a 100+lb 15' long beam and just wow for a gust to be able to rip that off the shed and to lift it in the air suspending it long enough to clear my fence and end up in my backyard. What power! I witnessed many power flashes off to my south-southeast also. I was standing in my driveway keeping an eye on our trees and wow that gust was incredible and a bit scary. I would hear the wind building to my south, then surprisingly to my east, then it just hit out of nowhere with incredible force and with a terrific sound. Comparing to the major wind storm of 2006 this was really quite similar. I would have to think this is now bordering on a Major Windstorm criteria? If we saw more widespread 55-65mph gust reports it would have been. Just think we went from a forecast for gusts 45-50+, to gust 45-55 maybe 60mph, then back to 45-55, and we ended up with 60mph+! A legitimate Wind Storm has again finally struck Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington!

 

I think I have a good handle on why the winds ramped significantly up despite a meager PDX-EUG peaking at -6.5mb and PDX-MFR gradient maxing out at only at -8.3mb. Typically the rule of thumb for gusts in the northern Willamette Valley for even just 40-45mph you need a PDX-MFR of -12mb. The pressure pattern between Portland and Medford was far less than ideal or impressive. Remember a few WRF runs showed a PDX-EUG of -12 to -14mb! NOW that would have been insane widespread damage would have occurred. This storm was the first since November 1981 to cross right over the critical 130 W, 40 N line for classic Pacific Northwest Windstorms. In fact, it nearly took the same trajectory and track. It was very strong peaking around 972-973mb and only slowly weakened as it moved north off the Oregon Coast, but occlusion did not swing inland over us. The culprit, at least I believe so, was the strong jet streak modeled over 140mph that blasted up from the south-southwest(Many of the 250mb GFS images I posted showed this) moved right up over the Willamette Valley. Humidity values dropped significantly too under the very warm air mass. You can see this as well on Water Vapor Imagery this evening how it races up quickly as the low lifted northward. I believe that caused extremely efficient mixing of the very strong winds aloft(seen on several WRF 4km soundings) towards the surface at times and kind of at random. The winds aloft were aligned almost identically with the N-S isobaric field over the Willamette Valley too for good momentum transfer forced downward. At least that's as much as my puny amateur weather geek mind can grasp. Feel free to chime in if any of this is incorrect.

 

Excellent post.  I think you nailed the reason why it got so strong there.  The same thing happened in the Seattle area yesterday, but with a far less impressive surface gradient to work with.  This has been quite a dynamic pattern.

[MossMan]

I can't help but think about the similarities with this year and 2006/07 so far this fall.

[seattleweatherguy]

power flickered in Bothell

Only flickered once here

[Brennan]

Wind is ramped up here in Bellingham. House is shaking for the 3rd time in 4 days. And it hit 59* again.

[Skagit Weather]

Just took my handheld anemometer out to the nearby shoreline. Out there for about 20 minutes and it is truly amazing how much more constant it is. Roughly 25mph with gust to 40 while here it is 10 with gusts to 35.

[snow_wizard]

Wind is ramped up here in Bellingham. House is shaking for the 3rd time in 4 days. And it hit 59* again.

 

I think we are in for something good a bit down the road.  In the meantime it's been quite a show for the past month.

[snow_wizard]

I can't help but think about the similarities with this year and 2006/07 so far this fall.

 

That has been coming up as a CPC analog very consistently.  A Jan 2007 repeat would be just fine with me.

[Brennan]

I have enjoyed all the wind and rain lately. I secretly am snickering at the fact the mountains have done so poorly as well, particularly Baker. Maybe that is bad karma. I've never hurt this bad!

[stuffradio]

That has been coming up as a CPC analog very consistently.  A Jan 2007 repeat would be just fine with me.

Abbotsford got a bit more than a foot of snow that month. I'd be fine with that.

[snow_wizard]

Looks like I got off easy on this one.  The threat is pretty much over here now.  Up north looks wild for a couple of more hours.

[wx_statman]

That Nov 1981 storm is often overlooked in general.  That was one of my favorite windstorms of all time.  The NWS had such a good handle on that one I knew exactly what time to arrive on the shores of Lake Washington to watch all hell break loose.  About 15 minutes after I arrived the wind went from around 10 mph to at least 60 in a matter of seconds.  I often wonder why that storm is so overlooked.

I wouldn't say November 1981 is overlooked. I've seen it referenced a number of times as one of the "classic" PNW windstorms in the modern era, along with October 1962 and December 1995.

[wx_statman]

Here are the peak gusts today at some stations around Oregon. Keep in mind I haven't QC'd any of these observations, they are raw and there could be some suspect ones. ASOS obs are almost certainly trustworthy. Gusts in mph.

130 Mt Hebo

117 Squaw Peak

90 Humbug Mtn89 Mary's Peak

88 near Heppner 

81 Mt Howard 

76 Calimus

75 North Bank

72 Yaquina Bridge (Newport)

71 Riddle Mtn

71 Bald Mtn (Newberg)

70 Grant County Airport 

69 Long Creek

68 Yachats

68 Signal Tree

68 Quail Prairie Lookout

68 Port Orford

68 Red Mound

68 Horse Ridge

68 Onion Mtn Lookout

67 Portland (PDX)

67 Flynn Prairie

66 Lexington

63 Garibaldi 

62 Aurora (UAO)

62 Portland - Glen Jackson Bridge

61 McMinnville (MMV) before power lost

61 Timberline Lodge 

61 Gold Beach 

60 Vancouver (VUO)

60 Newport (ONP)

60 Redmond (RDM)

60 Wasco

59 Florence 

58 Forest Grove

56 Dunes

55 Troutdale (TTD)

55 Prineville

55 Madras

54 Eugene (EUG)

54 Tillamook (TMK)

54 Scappoose (SPB)

54 Cannon Beach 

54 Bend

54 Condon

53 Astoria (AST)

53 Salem (SLE)

53 Happy Valley

52 Hillsboro (HIO)

52 Clackamas

48 Corvallis (CVO)

48 North Bend (OTH)

46 Turner

45 Florence airport 

45 Stayton

Impressive storm. Gusts to 65-70 in populated places on both sides of the Cascades.

[snow_wizard]

I wouldn't say November 1981 is overlooked. I've seen it referenced a number of times as one of the "classic" PNW windstorms in the modern era, along with October 1962 and December 1995.

 

I just never hear it talked about much.

[seattleweatherguy]

sustained winds of 43 and gusts to 53 it claims on noaa for bothell did not feel it!

[GHweatherChris]

That has been coming up as a CPC analog very consistently.  A Jan 2007 repeat would be just fine with me.

Jan. 2007 does not work for me, we can throw that one out.

[stuffradio]

Jan. 2007 does not work for me, we can throw that one out.

If you pick one that works for you, we'll try and mix it in there for your location.

[snow_wizard]

The CPC analogs tonight paint an interesting picture.  The top two analogs for day 8 are from Dec 2006, the top analog for day 11 is from Dec 2003, and two of the other analogs for day 11 are from Dec 2006.

 

2003 and 2006 were both warm ENSO and both had Arctic outbreaks and snow in January.  Besides the CPC analogs the late Nov Arctic outbreak was like 2006 and this windstorm is the biggest one since Dec 2006.

[snow_wizard]

sustained winds of 43 and gusts to 53 it claims on noaa for bothell did not feel it!

 

That could have been right on a hill or somewhere more exposed to wind.  This has been a weird event for the east Puget Sound lowlands though.  Some places barely got windy at all.