August 2015 in the Pacific Northwest

[bainbridgekid]

That 39mph August record was low hanging fruit.

I'm a little surprised an August thunderstorm has never given them a 40 mph wind gust, but this type of large scale wind storm is extremely rare for this time of year here.

[BLI snowman]

No, you just don't know our climate very well.

 

It's not so much the wind speeds but the way that they're being achieved. It's one thing to get a strong east wind or localized thunderstorm outflow, but a strong south windstorm is pretty close to unparalleled

 

 

8/29/1991 might be the closest match in my mind, but that low was way further north.

 

8/28/1951 set Portland's monthly low barometer reading of 29.44", but it looks like that was a pretty broad trough and not from a closed low. 

[Deweydog]

The gust to 62 at Quillayute sticks out to me the most.  They're pretty sheltered and it's truly exceptional for them to get out of the 50's during fall/winter.  

[Deweydog]

It's not so much the wind speeds but the way that they're being achieved. It's one thing to get a strong east wind or localized thunderstorm outflow, but a strong south windstorm is pretty close to unparalleled

 

 

8/29/1991 might be the closest match in my mind, but that low was way further north.

 

8/28/1951 set Portland's monthly low barometer reading of 29.44", but it looks like that was a pretty broad trough and not from a closed low. 

 

I remember that one vividly.  I was deckhanding that summer and Buoy 10 was in full swing.  Needless to say it was a busy day for the USCG out of Cape D.  Big difference is that set up was more about a coastal jet/SE sucker kind of scenario while this was just pure cyclogenesis with excellent mixing.  Incredible.  

[Abbotsford_wx]

New August wind gust record for Abbotsford (YXX) of 58 mph. The old record was 39 mph. Records since 1944.

 

There are trees on the roads throughout the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. Reports of 200K without power now.

[BLI snowman]

Also hit 58mph at BLI, wowzas.

 

PDX eeked up to 43mph.

 

SEA hit 46mph.

[BLI snowman]

New August wind gust record for Abbotsford (YXX) of 58 mph. The old record was 39 mph. Records since 1944.

 

There are trees on the roads throughout the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. Reports of 200K without power now.

 

Strongest gust there in several years, right? They only got to 50mph with the storm last December.

[Phil]

No, you just don't know our climate very well.

I'd have figured convective winds would have taken care of that eventually. Hard to go long without a strong summer storm in August unless you live in SoCal.

[FroYoBro]

I'd have figured convective winds would have taken care of that eventually. Hard to go long without a strong summer storm in August unless you live in SoCal.

It actually is difficult to get strong summer storms with high winds on the westside. Probably explains why we haven't had too many. 

[Abbotsford_wx]

Strongest gust there in several years, right? They only got to 50mph with the storm last December.

 

Actually, they hit 56 mph last December. The last time it was this strong was when they hit 60 mph on Christmas Day 2011.

[bainbridgekid]

Also hit 58mph at BLI, wowzas.

 

PDX eeked up to 43mph.

 

SEA hit 46mph.

Top tier.

 

Do you know what the August record is at SEA and BLI?

[BLI snowman]

I'd have figured convective winds would have taken care of that eventually. Hard to go long without a strong summer storm in August unless you live in SoCal.

 

We don't get many strong to severe thunderstorms west of the Cascades, Phil. And when we do get them, which is rare, they tend to occur in the April to June timeframe when the troughs are a bit more dynamic. Like California, our climate is pretty Mediterranean in the sense that the storm season just shuts down for 6-12 weeks every year in the summer. 

[Jesse]

We don't get many strong to severe thunderstorms west of the Cascades, Phil. And when we do get them, which is rare, they tend to occur in the April to June timeframe when the troughs are a bit more dynamic. Like California, our climate is pretty Mediterranean in the sense that the storm season just shuts down for 6-12 weeks every year in the summer.

Pretty sure he's just trolling to underscore how lame he thinks we are.

 

Most of his content here is either bombastic predictions or that.

[BLI snowman]

Top tier.

 

Do you know what the August record is at SEA and BLI?

 

The 1951 and 1991 events seem to be the most impressive of the airport era prior to today.

 

1951 had some nice Fraser River outflow at BLI, sustained winds of 33mph

 

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBLI/1951/8/28/DailyHistory.html

[BLI snowman]

Pretty sure he's just trolling to underscore how lame he thinks we are.

 

Most of his content here is either bombastic predictions or that.

 

Well in that case, DC is a swampy, politician infested rectal wart. And our strongest wind speeds (10/12/1962) beat their strongest wind speeds (Hurricane Hazel in 1954). So there's that. 

[Front Ranger]

Very impressive storm. 

 

Sounds like the winds are starting to clear out a lot of the smoke on the east side as well.

[stuffradio]

This storm is still causing havoc around the Lower mainland/Fraser Valley. Trees falling over, power is out, trees hitting the skytrain while it was moving, etc. There is also at least one person that was seriously injured from a branch or something hitting her while walking, but apparently somewhere in WA a girl was killed by a tree falling.

[seattleweatherguy]

Power out

[Phil]

Well in that case, DC is a swampy, politician infested rectal wart. And our strongest wind speeds (10/12/1962) beat their strongest wind speeds (Hurricane Hazel in 1954). So there's that.

 

That was legitimately hilarious.

[UnionWX]

Impressive storms I'm hearing from out there in the West. Numerous wind records broken as well! Been a while since I've had a good storm here.

[Phil]

Pretty sure he's just trolling to underscore how lame he thinks we are.

 

Most of his content here is either bombastic predictions or that.

I wasn't trolling, and your characterization of me is false.

 

I don't know much of anything about western mesoscale climate. I honestly thought that PDX number was low hanging fruit. I was just trying to contribute.

 

I'm sorry.

[luminen]

This storm is still causing havoc around the Lower mainland/Fraser Valley. Trees falling over, power is out, trees hitting the skytrain while it was moving, etc. There is also at least one person that was seriously injured from a branch or something hitting her while walking, but apparently somewhere in WA a girl was killed by a tree falling.

 

The traffic today has been awful too thanks to the downed trees, piles of leaves/branches in the middle of the roads, police barricades, and non-functioning traffic lights. I saw one unlucky car with a large tree fallen onto it in the middle of Columbia street in New Westminster. Also some downed power lines of course. I'm surprised I have power...

[Jesse]

Spokane's obs have been pretty crazy today. They spiked to 83 in the late morning, fell to 59 in the afternoon under a heavy shower, and are now in the upper 70s with a drop in DPs. All with wind gusts around 50mph.

[GHweatherChris]

Moderate to Heavy rain off and on for the last hour, .50 inches since 5 pm.

[MossMan]

Well it sounds like my chainsaw will be getting a workout when I get home tomorrow from E. Wa. My dad just went to check on my house and it sounds like I lost a tree and my yard is a mess. Also I have no power like many people in western Wa. Meanwhile I spent the day playing in a very rough Park Lake, and all the smoke has cleared from this area and the dust has settled down. A beautiful evening here!

[bainbridgekid]

Just got home to Mountlake Terrace and it's like a war zone here.

 

Branches down everywhere, powers out and the fire alarm was going off at the apartment complex I live in when we got there so everyone was huddled outside trying to stay dry.

[TT-SEA]

Well it sounds like my chainsaw will be getting a workout when I get home tomorrow from E. Wa. My dad just went to check on my house and it sounds like I lost a tree and my yard is a mess. Also I have no power like many people in western Wa. Meanwhile I spent the day playing in a very rough Park Lake, and all the smoke has cleared from this area and the dust has settled down. A beautiful evening here!

 

We are in Richland on the Columbia... really nice area here.   Great hotel right on the marina with Anthonys right next door and of course all the wineries.  

 

We had dust here this morning but it cleared up in the early afternoon.   My sons played golf this morning and it was a little interesting to say the least... with very strong winds.  I think our area at home was spared most of the wind.    Much more intense through the Sound.   

 

But it was a spectacular late afternoon and evening here.   Probably the first time the smoke has cleared here for quite awhile from what I heard.  Here is my son about an hour ago...

 

[TT-SEA]

Love to see the solid band of rain over the interior this evening... that one is going to cross over the fire areas tonight and tomorrow morning.   

[TT-SEA]

Becoming a seriously wet August now for the Seattle area... way above normal.   Might not even really be considered a very dry meteorological summer now.

[jcmcgaffey]

Here are a couple videos from down along the Oregon coast earlier today. We were coming back from a family vacation and it worked out perfect to get a good storm on our last day. I have always wanted to watch a storm down along the coast and it was awesome. The videos are pretty amature as I am no professional. There were lots of amazing lightning strikes and bolts down onto the ocean and rocks but I was not able to get any shots of those. The high tides mixed with the low pressure was enough to start picking up a lot of large driftwood and flood the coastline a bit. A station at Oceanside recorded a 90mph gust which was close to where I took the videos.

https://youtu.be/W_kJY2AM8XE

[MossMan]

We are in Richland on the Columbia... really nice area here. Great hotel right on the marina with Anthonys right next door and of course all the wineries.

 

We had dust here this morning but it cleared up in the early afternoon. My sons played golf this morning and it was a little interesting to say the least... with very strong winds. I think our area at home was spared most of the wind. Much more intense through the Sound.

 

But it was a spectacular late afternoon and evening here. Probably the first time the smoke has cleared here for quite awhile from what I heard. Here is my son about an hour ago...

 

That is a nice area that you guys are at! Yeah like your area the wind also kicked out the smoke up here as well and when the dust calmed down it was a beautiful day! Sounds like back at home our area is still in the dark.

[Abbotsford_wx]

Hard to believe but I'm still at under an inch of rain for the month. This storm was pretty lame in that department, and we almost entirely missed the storm that hit Seattle earlier this month.

 

Normal for August here is just under 2".

[TT-SEA]

Ho hum... just another 1.26 inches since last night at SEA.

 

Total for August now at 3.23 inches.

 

Just browsing the data and this looks like its in the top 5 wettest months for August in history.

[bainbridgekid]

Power's been out here in Mountlake Terrace since late yesterday morning.

 

The fact that Everett gusts to 61 mph makes me wonder what we peaked at here.

 

Preliminary reports are just insane for August:

 

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA

435 PM PDT SAT AUG 29 2015

 

 

...WIND REPORTS AROUND WESTERN WASHINGTON IN THE PAST 12 HOURS...

 

HERE ARE SOME PRELIMINARY LOWLAND WIND REPORTS FOR TODAY'S STORM AS

OF 4 PM PDT. REPORTS OF LESS THAN 35 MPH WERE OMITTED. REPORTS ARE

GUSTS...EXCEPT (P) ARE PEAK WINDS.

 

LOCATION SPEED TIME/DATE LAT/LON

 

...ADMIRALTY INLET AREA...

WHIDBEY ISLAND NAS 70 MPH(P) 1202 PM 08/29 48.35N/122.67W

CAMA BEACH 59 MPH 1245 PM 08/29 48.14N/122.52W

1 WNW OAK HARBOR 46 MPH 1128 AM 08/29 48.31N/122.67W

2 NW PORT HADLOCK 39 MPH 1159 AM 08/29 48.06N/122.79W

COUPEVILLE 37 MPH 1130 AM 08/29 48.22N/122.69W

4 NE GARDINER 36 MPH 1202 PM 08/29 48.10N/122.87W

 

...BELLEVUE AND VICINITY...

1 S EASTGATE 46 MPH 0121 PM 08/29 47.55N/122.13W

KENMORE 41 MPH 0127 PM 08/29 47.76N/122.25W

2 NE FAIRWOOD 35 MPH 0236 PM 08/29 47.48N/122.12W

 

...BREMERTON AND VICINITY...

INDIANOLA 54 MPH 0119 PM 08/29 47.74N/122.51W

4 SW BREMERTON 38 MPH 1055 AM 08/29 47.50N/122.75W

 

...CENTRAL COAST...

HOQUIAM BOWERMAN AP 63 MPH(P) 0932 AM 08/29 46.97N/123.93W

1 SSE OCEAN SHORES 55 MPH 0925 AM 08/29 46.95N/124.14W

2 NNW OCEAN CITY 49 MPH 0937 AM 08/29 47.11N/124.18W

1 WNW ABERDEEN 36 MPH 1131 AM 08/29 46.98N/123.84W

 

...EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS...

2 NNW MIRRORMONT 43 MPH 0157 PM 08/29 47.50N/122.01W

ENUMCLAW 38 MPH 1037 AM 08/29 47.21N/122.00W

DUVALL 36 MPH 0142 PM 08/29 47.73N/121.97W

1 SW MIRRORMONT 35 MPH 0214 PM 08/29 47.44N/122.01W

 

...EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA...

PORT ANGELES INTL AP 45 MPH(P) 1141 AM 08/29 48.12N/123.50W

3 NNW GARDINER 40 MPH 1029 AM 08/29 48.09N/122.92W

6 SW AGNEW 40 MPH 1209 PM 08/29 48.03N/123.31W

 

...EVERETT AND VICINITY...

PAINE FIELD 61 MPH(P) 1246 PM 08/29 47.91N/122.28W

ARLINGTON 48 MPH 1155 AM 08/29 48.16N/122.16W

1 E STIMSON CROSSING 38 MPH 0233 PM 08/29 48.11N/122.17W

 

...HOOD CANAL AREA...

1 WSW BRINNON 55 MPH 1251 PM 08/29 47.67N/122.93W

4 E PORT LUDLOW 52 MPH 0108 PM 08/29 47.92N/122.58W

SHELTON AIRPORT 47 MPH(P) 1211 PM 08/29 47.24N/123.14W

QUILCENE 35 MPH 1236 PM 08/29 47.82N/122.88W

 

...NORTH COAST...

4 NNW SAPPHO 63 MPH 1100 AM 08/29 48.13N/124.31W

QUILLAYUTE AIRPORT 62 MPH(P) 1038 AM 08/29 47.94N/124.56W

FORKS 37 MPH 1033 AM 08/29 47.96N/124.38W

 

...SAN JUAN COUNTY...

6 E FRIDAY HARBOR 66 MPH 1131 AM 08/29 48.53N/122.87W

FRIDAY HARBOR AIRPORT 49 MPH(P) 1046 AM 08/29 48.52N/123.02W

7 W ANACORTES 41 MPH 0115 PM 08/29 48.51N/122.79W

2 SE EASTSOUND 41 MPH 1114 AM 08/29 48.67N/122.87W

4 SSW ROCHE HARBOR 39 MPH 0119 PM 08/29 48.55N/123.16W

ORCAS ISLAND AP 38 MPH 1155 AM 08/29 48.71N/122.91W

 

...SEATTLE AND VICINITY...

SEATTLE TACOMA ARPT 46 MPH(P) 1235 PM 08/29 47.44N/122.31W

3 WNW HUNTS POINT 45 MPH 0106 PM 08/29 47.67N/122.29W

NORMANDY PARK 45 MPH 1225 PM 08/29 47.44N/122.34W

2 W KIRKLAND 43 MPH 1230 PM 08/29 47.69N/122.26W

BOEING FIELD 41 MPH(P) 0101 PM 08/29 47.53N/122.30W

2 NW WHITE CENTER 40 MPH 1230 PM 08/29 47.55N/122.38W

RENTON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT 39 MPH(P) 0234 PM 08/29 47.49N/122.21W

1 NE SEATTLE 37 MPH 1243 PM 08/29 47.62N/122.32W

3 NW WHITE CENTER 36 MPH 1225 PM 08/29 47.56N/122.39W

WHITE CENTER 35 MPH 1239 PM 08/29 47.52N/122.35W

 

...SOUTHWEST INTERIOR...

OLYMPIA AIRPORT 45 MPH(P) 1017 AM 08/29 46.97N/122.90W

1 NW CHEHALIS 36 MPH 0915 AM 08/29 46.68N/122.98W

 

...TACOMA AREA...

JBLM-MCCHORD FIELD 54 MPH(P) 1045 AM 08/29 47.13N/122.48W

TACOMA NARROWS AIRPORT 51 MPH(P) 1105 AM 08/29 47.27N/122.58W

JBLM-FT. LEWIS 47 MPH(P) 1143 AM 08/29 47.08N/122.58W

1 W TACOMA 38 MPH 0958 AM 08/29 47.25N/122.49W

TACOMA 35 MPH 1154 AM 08/29 47.26N/122.47W

RUSTON 35 MPH 1108 AM 08/29 47.30N/122.52W

2 W RUSTON 35 MPH 1218 PM 08/29 47.29N/122.56W

1 N GIG HARBOR 35 MPH 1053 AM 08/29 47.35N/122.59W

2 NW ARTONDALE 35 MPH 1212 PM 08/29 47.34N/122.67W

 

...WESTERN SKAGIT COUNTY...

BURLINGTON/MOUNT VERNON 49 MPH 0135 PM 08/29 48.47N/122.42W

1 NE SEDRO-WOOLLEY 41 MPH 0242 PM 08/29 48.52N/122.22W

1 WNW ANACORTES 40 MPH 1159 AM 08/29 48.50N/122.66W

 

...WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY...

5 W MARIETTA 67 MPH 1143 AM 08/29 48.80N/122.71W

FERNDALE 63 MPH 1137 AM 08/29 48.86N/122.59W

BELLINGHAM INTL AIRPORT 58 MPH(P) 1223 PM 08/29 48.79N/122.54W

1 SW KBLI 58 MPH 1145 AM 08/29 48.78N/122.56W

4 ENE FERNDALE 42 MPH 0202 PM 08/29 48.88N/122.51W

7 WSW MARIETTA 37 MPH 1220 PM 08/29 48.73N/122.70W

1 ESE BELLINGHAM 35 MPH 1233 PM 08/29 48.73N/122.44W

[luvssnow_spokane]

MY high wind speed here clocked in at 36mph... Not to impressive but for an August storm this baby was a doozy! Was fun and hope we have a few more this season, as I need to put my brand new generator to work. OH, did not lose power here but area's around me did. Fun stuff!

[TT-SEA]

Great picture from Lynnwood...

 

http://s2.postimg.org/wrfedsduw/08292015_Windstorm_Lindsey_02_1560x1040.jpg

[Front Ranger]

Ho hum... just another 1.26 inches since last night at SEA.

 

Total for August now at 3.23 inches.

 

Just browsing the data and this looks like its in the top 5 wettest months for August in history.

 

Yup, only 1968, 1975, and 1977 were wetter.

[TT-SEA]

Yup, only 1968, 1975, and 1977 were wetter.

Almost 5 inches at my house in just over month... starting with the 2.20 inch deluge on the weekend of 7/25. Conditions around our area are significantly wetter than normal for the end of August.

[Abbotsford_wx]

The Puget Sound area has been unusually wet this month, but it doesn't seem very representative of the region in general.

[TT-SEA]

The Puget Sound area has been unusually wet this month, but it doesn't seem very representative of the region in general.

No kidding.

 

BUT the area from Olympia to Everett and east into the Cacades is unusually wet right now. That's where some of us live.

 

Very much like last year as well.