May 2021 Pacific Northwest Weather Obs

[TT-SEA]

4 minutes ago, BLI snowman said:

The 65 at PDX definitely stood out as it tied the all time monthly record max set in 1993.

Anomalous.

This storm was much more impressive up here.    And of course the people up here are talking about what happened up here.  

[BLI snowman]

Just now, TT-SEA said:

This storm was much more impressive up here.    And of course the people up here are talking about what happened up here.  

61 at BLI.

Looks like 4 degrees off the monthly record today for them so not bad.

[ShawniganLake]

.23” on the day.  1.00” on the month.  

[TT-SEA]

Just went to Safeway and they are no longer requiring masks... the sign says they are "encouraged for non-vaccinated people".    I went in with a mask on but then quickly ditched it when I did not see anyone else wearing a mask... not even the employees.     That was pretty nice.

And we got all of this nasty weather out of the way ahead of the holiday weekend.    Everything is looking up.  

[TT-SEA]

00Z ECMWF shows a significant rain event late next week... except for Portland of course.

 

 

[TT-SEA]

Wow... there is close to the normal rain for all of June in some places.

 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Got up to 67F. 0.05" of rain. Was clear and beautiful most of the day after about noon.

Still above normal temp on the month and will finish about an inch below avg precip.

[Link]

14 hours ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

A massive 0.05" for Springfield. So long rain, see y'all again in late Sept. If the city is destroyed then I guess it'll help put out the extent of the fires but the desolation will be unprecedented if we go HAM on 90F+ for 3+ months.

I think the fire crews will be a lot more careful this time instead of the stupid modern science of 'letting it burn out naturally'.   We had a small fire near Drakes Crossing earlier this spring and they didn't let that one go. Within hours it (The fire) was done.   No more being bossed by environmentalists of 'It has to burn naturrrrrrraaaaally!" 

[Link]

2 hours ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

Got up to 67F. 0.05" of rain. Was clear and beautiful most of the day after about noon.

Still above normal temp on the month and will finish about an inch below avg precip.

Sounds like the neighborhood prankster spat in your rainbucket to fool you. 

[Link]

4 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Just went to Safeway and they are no longer requiring masks... the sign says they are "encouraged for non-vaccinated people".    I went in with a mask on but then quickly ditched it when I did not see anyone else wearing a mask... not even the employees.     That was pretty nice.

And we got all of this nasty weather out of the way ahead of the holiday weekend.    Everything is looking up.  

 It's sure amazing how  positive conscience thought can collectively effect a community! 

[Phil]

8 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Normal high today in the Seattle area is in the upper 60s.    It was in the 50s in most places.   Today was remarkably cool and wet for late May.     Today was statistically as normal as a day around 80. 

Likewise we could have a high in the mid-50s on Sunday. Would be the coolest high on record for the date.

I’m going to be spending a lot of time outside, rain or shine.  By midweek it’s back to swamp sludge.

[Phil]

That westerly current in the upper 50m of the eq-pacific has been weakened substantially along with the cooling subsurface.

Could see an upwelling OKW soon if these trades keep blowing.

[Phil]

New EPS weeklies have a lot of IO/EHEM convection in late June into July, circled in blue. If that verifies it’s a cool signal.

Opposite of current intraseasonal regime, circled in red (IO/EHEM subsidence with Pacific convection) which favors western ridging.

 

[TacomaWaWx]

8 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Just went to Safeway and they are no longer requiring masks... the sign says they are "encouraged for non-vaccinated people".    I went in with a mask on but then quickly ditched it when I did not see anyone else wearing a mask... not even the employees.     That was pretty nice.

And we got all of this nasty weather out of the way ahead of the holiday weekend.    Everything is looking up.  

Yeah...I’ve been working at fred meyers here in Tacoma throughout the pandemic. Just 3 days ago they announced that if you’re vaccinated you don’t have to wear a mask...employees or customers. However there’s basically no enforcement of it I know quite a few employees who haven’t been vaccinated just not wearing them and I’m sure many customers aren’t vaccinated either. Probably 4 or 5 out of 10 people the last few days at my work have actually been wearing masks. It feels so unnatural seeing unmasked people walking in the store after the last ~14 months. 

[TT-SEA]

29 minutes ago, Phil said:

New EPS weeklies have a lot of IO/EHEM convection in late June into July, circled in blue. If that verifies it’s a cool signal.

Opposite of current intraseasonal regime, circled in red (IO/EHEM subsidence with Pacific convection) which favors western ridging.

 

 

Starting to look quite troughy in early June as well.

[TacomaWaWx]

Wound up with 0.85” of rain yesterday.  Had a low temp of 48 this morning. 

[Joshua Lake Oswego]

7 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Wow... there is close to the normal rain for all of June in some places.

 

 

Wherever the storm track is forecasted to be at this time, add a couple of hundred miles north. BC will score. Seattle will get peanuts. Portland will get zilch.

[TacomaWaWx]

7 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Wow... there is close to the normal rain for all of June in some places.

 

Mother Nature putting in work to catch us up I guess. 

[MossMan]

.12” so far on the day, 2.53” for the month. 
 

cloudy and 47. 

[MossMan]

Brrr. 

[Phil]

37 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

 

Starting to look quite troughy in early June as well.

I suspect troughing will generally under-perform vs medium range guidance June 1-7. But we’ll see. Could end up with a gradient situation where BC/WA get hosed while N-CA/OR are left mostly dry? 

[TT-SEA]

6 minutes ago, Phil said:

I suspect troughing will generally under-perform vs medium range guidance June 1-7. But we’ll see. Could end up with a gradient situation where BC/WA get hosed while N-CA/OR are left mostly dry? 

That would be shocking.   That never happens.   

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Looks like we will end up with 4.66” of rain this month after 0.12” overnight. Our wettest May in several years at least. Good to see, barely above average, but still nearly 5” of rain will jump start the vegetation. Hoping we can get about 3-4” in June. Average in June here is just under 3”.

[Winterdog]

2 hours ago, MossMan said:

.12” so far on the day, 2.53” for the month. 
 

cloudy and 47. 

Wow, a bit wetter here.  .47" on the day, 4.50" on the month, 27.78" for the year.  Currently 50 and not raining.  Looking forward to some sunshine.

[MossMan]

2 minutes ago, Acer said:

Wow, a bit wetter here.  .47" on the day, 4.50" on the month, 27.78" for the year.  Currently 50 and not raining.  Looking forward to some sunshine.

Wow! You might be the rainfall winner (or loser depending on preference) for the month! 

[TacomaWaWx]

39 minutes ago, 1000'NorthBend said:

Dang, I was hoping Tacoma would end up with more rain than out here, ended up with 1.18” of rain yesterday. 7.16” of rain for May. 

Not too often that tacoma gets more rain than north bend. Still very happy with the rain we got yesterday. 1.72” for the month. 

[TT-SEA]

9 minutes ago, hawkstwelve said:

GFS is showing quite a bit of clouds hanging around over the weekend from a system moving into BC as it rotates out of the parent low near the Aleutians. Still warm and dry, but cloudy. Boooo.

Although, looks like NAM and GEM both show much more sun than the GFS does so hopefully they end up right.

And all the 12Z runs out so far show a very large trough diving down into the PNW later next week.   So much for our ridgy period in early June before the troughy pattern starts later in the month.  

[Omegaraptor]

Spring precip totals Mar-May:

Portland 2.52" (driest on record)

Hillsboro 2.22" (driest on record)

Salem 4.54"

Eugene 3.31" (driest on record)

Roseburg 3.10" (driest on record)

Medford 1.84"

[Joshua Lake Oswego]

7 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

Spring precip totals Mar-May:

Portland 2.52" (driest on record)

Hillsboro 2.22" (driest on record)

Salem 4.54"

Eugene 3.31" (driest on record)

Roseburg 3.10" (driest on record)

Medford 1.84"

Some of those are by far the driest on record. 

I already see so many dead or dying trees driving from my house to downtown Portland on I-5. Driving in neighborhoods too. Our native vegetation can only take this incessant warmth and drought for so long. It's really sad. Probably a good time to invest in tree removal company stock.

Time to pant palm trees and cacti.

[TacomaWaWx]

22 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

Spring precip totals Mar-May:

Portland 2.52" (driest on record)

Hillsboro 2.22" (driest on record)

Salem 4.54"

Eugene 3.31" (driest on record)

Roseburg 3.10" (driest on record)

Medford 1.84"

5.52” here is the 2nd driest on record behind 2019 here...even after getting a bunch of rain yesterday. 

[jcmcgaffey]

I swear the SEA rain gauge has issues.  Only .43 yesterday.  All other nearby gauges within a mile were much more. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

My Dad has a couple acres of douglas fir in the Willamette Valley. They are probably about 45 years old now. I was out there yesterday, they are looking so unhealthy it's unbelievable. I bet most if not all of them will die in the next few years. More firewood for me at least. 

[Tyler Mode]

2 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

My Dad has a couple acres of douglas fir in the Willamette Valley. They are probably about 45 years old now. I was out there yesterday, they are looking so unhealthy it's unbelievable. I bet most if not all of them will die in the next few years. More firewood for me at least. 

A lot of the firs here have died/are dying.  I noticed a lot of the tops of the first already are bare of needles and it slowly just works its way down the tree.

[TT-SEA]

12 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Wow... there is close to the normal rain for all of June in some places.

 

FWIW... the 12Z run run took away most of this rain.   

This is the 10-day total from the 12Z ECMWF:

[MossMan]

Still quite wet in Skykomish currently. 49 degrees. River is fairly high...Hopefully there will be no River/lake drowning this weekend. 

[TT-SEA]

The 12Z EPS is also pretty dry over the next 15 days... despite being troughy in mid and long range.

[TT-SEA]

Just now, MossMan said:

Still quite wet in Skykomish currently. 49 degrees. River is fairly high...Hopefully there will be no River/lake drowning this weekend. 

That river looks like its running fast and high.   I saw that the streamflows in the central Cascades are all quite high.

[Phil]

This is an impressive airmass. Lots of broken records in the Midwest.

And look at the years containing said records... Yum  

[SilverFallsAndrew]

1 hour ago, Tyler Mode said:

A lot of the firs here have died/are dying.  I noticed a lot of the tops of the first already are bare of needles and it slowly just works its way down the tree.

It is sad. Even 10-15 years ago they were very healthy. I have not seen the same issue up where I live. Even though it has been drier and warmer than normal, we are still usually 6-8 degrees cooler than the valley during the day in the summer, and 10" below normal on rainfall for a season is still about 65". 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

2 old-growth firs are about toast here in the downtown & Washburne districts of Springfield. These houses are only 160 years old so them being destroyed isn't that big of a deal. I'll make sure to send pictures of the devastation if I survive it.