PNW February 2022 - Winters Last Stand

[Omegaraptor]

1 hour ago, Cloud said:

A nice wonderful spring-like day!! Looking forward to many more of these to come.   
 

My body and mind is ready to leave “winter” (a week’s worth? Lmaooo) behind. 

Part of me wants a couple weeks of NW flow. Best time of the year to take advantage of it and I've gotten barely any use out of my ski pass.

The other part of me is ready for warmer temps and sunshine.

[Cascadia_Wx]

2 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

Part of me wants a couple weeks of NW flow. Best time of the year to take advantage of it and I've gotten barely any use out of my ski pass.

The other part of me is ready for spring.

Nw flow/mountain snow and “spring” arent usually mutually exclusive unless we have another drought year 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

40 minutes ago, Phishy Wx said:

unsustainable sources

He’s hopeless. 

[TT-SEA]

14 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

me walking outside to 28.9° sun angles

Seems like ever seeing the sun is pretty much intolerable for you then...  which probably means that Seattle is far too sunny of a place for you when sun angles are high.     

[TT-SEA]

Just now, SilverFallsAndrew said:

He’s hopeless. 

Never said it was sustainable.   But its quite interesting and it was an honest question.  

[Omegaraptor]

4 minutes ago, Cascadia_Wx said:

Nw flow/mountain snow and “spring” arent usually mutually exclusive unless we have another drought year 

By "spring" I kinda meant warmer weather. Often the best skiing of the year comes in late Feb and March, with average 850s still at winter-like temps and a large snowpack already present.

[Deweydog]

4 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Never said it was sustainable.   But its quite interesting and it was an honest question.  

It comes from hoses and pipes, dingledork.

[Omegaraptor]

7 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Never said it was sustainable.   But its quite interesting and it was an honest question.  

"The Coachella Valley Water District relies on three sources of water to provide service to its customers: groundwater, recycled water and imported water either through the State Water Project or from the Colorado River via the Coachella Canal, a branch of the All-American Canal."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coachella_Valley_Water_District

I'm actually writing a paper on water use for a class right now. Probably will update on how that goes.

[Deweydog]

Last year at this time I was NOT sitting on the patio furniture as I am now.

[Cascadia_Wx]

6 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

"The Coachella Valley Water District relies on three sources of water to provide service to its customers: groundwater, recycled water and imported water either through the State Water Project or from the Colorado River via the Coachella Canal, a branch of the All-American Canal."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coachella_Valley_Water_District

I'm actually writing a paper on water use for a class right now. Probably will update on how that goes.

A long way of saying unsustainable sources 

[Gradient Keeper]

The models and boring weather have lulled us to sleep, but it's time to WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

00z GFS in 4 hours 53 minutes
00z ECMWF in 7 hours

[snow_wizard]

1 hour ago, Phishy Wx said:

unsustainable sources

What that pic showed was such a waste of water also.  People never learn I guess.

[snow_wizard]

4 minutes ago, DJ Droppin said:

The models and boring weather have lulled us to sleep, but it's time to WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

00z GFS in 4 hours 53 minutes
00z ECMWF in 7 hours

It looks like things are finally on the upswing in the model world.  The second trough is trending colder.  All in all the 3 to 15 day period could easily average solidly below normal the way things look right now.  Even this weekend we have the cold nights.  1985 is coming up as an analog very consistently.  That year was cold and dry.

[MossMan]

21 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

Last year at this time I was NOT sitting on the patio furniture as I am now.

And I was not taking down Christmas lights and drinking an iced Mocha. Oh and I found my screwdriver that I lost on the morning of 1/1/22 when trying to chip inches of ice off the side of my roof…It dropped into the 1.5’ of snow. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Next time someone mocks me for appreciating zonal flow remember our current nightmare. I don’t think anyone of us imagined this winter would turn out so poorly. 

[Deweydog]

7 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Next time someone mocks me for appreciating zonal flow remember our current nightmare. I don’t think anyone of us imagined this winter would turn out so poorly. 

2007-08

[SilverFallsAndrew]

5 minutes ago, Deweydog said:

2007-08

We can pray March and April are better. 

[ShawniganLake]

Only 1 record high in BC yesterday. Hope we can do a little better today. 

[Phil]

3 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

Live view of snow on San Jacinto from Palm Springs... 

Gross.

There is no such thing as weather in Palm Springs. Wouldn’t be caught dead there if I could avoid it.

 

2 hours ago, Meatyorologist said:

me walking outside to 28.9° sun angles

Me every summer.

 

1 hour ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

Next time someone mocks me for appreciating zonal flow remember our current nightmare. I don’t think anyone of us imagined this winter would turn out so poorly. 

Zonal flow sucks too unless you live at 1600 feet.

[Meatyorologist]

For real though, that sun is getting high in the sky. The orange/yellow hue to the horizon is a couple weeks away from disappearing completely. Opening the blinds felt like getting hit by a brick wall 

[Meatyorologist]

As someone who lives at sea level (not 1600ft), zonal flow does NOT, in fact, suck.

[Phil]

6 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

For real though, that sun is getting high in the sky. The orange/yellow hue to the horizon is a couple weeks away from disappearing completely. Opening the blinds felt like getting hit by a brick wall 

Definitely noticing it. Feeling it too. Was in the 60s again today despite the clouds.

Supposed to start snowing here in a few hours, but considering it’s still 52 degrees I have my doubts.  

[Omegaraptor]

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

Zonal flow sucks too unless you live at 1600 feet.

Clearly ridging and dryness with zero new mountain snow for weeks on end is far better.

[TT-SEA]

10 minutes ago, Phil said:

Gross.

There is no such thing as weather in Palm Springs. Wouldn’t be caught dead there if I could avoid it.

 

Me every summer.

 

Zonal flow sucks too unless you live at 1600 feet.

Your extreme over-reactions to very popular and pleasant vacation spots is hilarious.    Always amuses me.     

[SilverFallsAndrew]

3 minutes ago, Omegaraptor said:

Clearly ridging and dryness with zero new mountain snow for weeks on end is far better.

Most zonal flow is just rain here too... But we need it... 

[Phil]

15 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

As someone who lives at sea level (not 1600ft), zonal flow does NOT, in fact, suck.

Zonal flow definitely more beneficial for the region (snowpack and the overall ecosystem) compared to endless ridging. So I guess if you had to pick…

Still IMO there is nothing personally enjoyable about cold rain in the dead of winter. Save that s**t for the autumn months.

I’m sure I’ll be torn to shreds over this.  

[TT-SEA]

2 minutes ago, Phil said:

Zonal flow definitely more beneficial for the region (snowpack and the overall ecosystem) compared to endless ridging.

But IMO there is nothing personally enjoyable about cold rain in the dead of winter. Save that s**t for the autumn months. Wouldn’t want endless ridging either, but come on.

I’m sure I’ll be torn to shreds over this.  

Sometimes it's good to have non-enjoyable weather so you can enjoy the enjoyable weather.   

[Meatyorologist]

1 minute ago, Phil said:

Obviously it’s much more beneficial for the region (snowpack and the overall ecosystem) compared to endless ridging.

But there is nothing personally enjoyable about cold rain in the dead of winter, IMO. Save that s**t for the autumn months.

I’m sure I’ll be torn to shreds over this, but whatever.

I guess it's because the dynamics for cold rain here are basically climo. Without raging southerly flow or a decent Arctic airmass, it will pretty much always precipitate cold rain here in the PNW.

Where you live cold rain is associated with snow either immediately to your north, or immediately above your head. Snow in those situations is a tangible, realizable threat.

Here in the PNW we won't really think of cold rain in terms of "oh, snow is immediately above me!" It's just climo; it is the way it is. We aren't "missing out" on as much as you do when it's raining and 40°F. That's just the general nature of a continental vs temperate climate. The dynamics of rain vs snow are basically "boom or bust", rarely in between, at least here at sea level where we miss out on most marginal events.

"Cold rain" is dynamically so different between our two climates that comparing them is a stupid game. Zonal flow here is just climo, but especially ecologically beneficial. Hard to convey that difference.

[Cascadia_Wx]

Pretty discouraging to see the 18z return to a strong ridge in the long range but at least the ensembles look better 

 

Have kind of a sinking feeling we could be fighting off a stubborn ridge just to our west most of early spring, just like last year, but would love to be wrong 

[Cascadia_Wx]

61/34 day here bright sunshine and east winds another warm and sunny day expecting tomorrow too 

[MossMan]

What a picture perfect February day! 
Even washed my wife’s car it was so nice. Sun angles were not high enough to wash my truck as well before it got too dark. 
49/30 on the day. Currently 43. 

[ShawniganLake]

6 minutes ago, MossMan said:

What a picture perfect February day! 
Even washed my wife’s car it was so nice. Sun angles were not high enough to wash my truck as well before it got too dark. 
49/30 on the day. Currently 43. 

My kid wanted to wash the car today but our outside water is shut off in preparation of winters next blast. 

[SilverFallsAndrew]

If anyone else wants to live at 1600', this place is about half a mile from us. Biggest drawback is the house across the highway at the intersection of my road is pretty terrible. 

https://www.redfin.com/OR/Silverton/941-Silver-Falls-Dr-SE-97381/home/26291380?utm_source=myredfin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=recommendations_update&riftinfo=ZXY9ZW1haWwmbD03ODQyMTM3JnA9bGlzdGluZ191cGRhdGVzX3JlY29tbWVuZGF0aW9ucyZhPWNsaWNrJnM9cmVjb21tZW5kYXRpb25zJnQ9aW1hZ2UmZW1haWxfaWQ9Nzg0MjEzN18xNjQ0NzA5NzM5XzYmdXBkYXRlX3R5cGU9MSZsaWxyX3Njb3JlPTAuNjYzNiZsaXN0aW5nX2lkPTE0NDc0NzMwNyZwcm9wZXJ0eV9pZD0yNjI5MTM4MCZwb3NpdGlvbl9udW1iZXI9MA==

[AlTahoe]

Some crazy temps in the Bay Area today! 

Salinas never reaches that temperature in Summer. 

Skied Heavenly in a Tshirt and no gloves today. 

 

[MossMan]

The place we almost put an offer on 4yrs ago before finding our current place at nearly the same time is back on the market! 21 acres! I liked the layout of the house as well but my wife could not get over the fact that there was carpet in the bathtub area. Also it was a 20min drive to I-5. The place next door to that place also just went on the market. 
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Mount-Vernon/25715-Lake-Cavanaugh-Rd-98274/home/18791039?600390594=copy_variant&231528114=control&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet

[SilverFallsAndrew]

My brother hit 76 in Coquille today, he's been in the 70s for several days. Said he talked to the head of the county fire protection agency (He works for the county.), and he said it was in the low 80s up the Sixes River drainage and they had to go put down a small forest fire today. 

Apparently it was from a slash pile that had burned back in the late fall and was still smoldering. It dried up enough the embers ignited a brush fire. Again this is the Southern Oregon coast in February.

[The Blob]

4 hours ago, TT-SEA said:

And speaking of water... where does it all come from down here??

From San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. That area has enough water flowing down from the mountains they don't really have to rely on out sourcing too much.

 

ETA, There is also White Water near by, plus with the San Andreas there are spots with sag ponds and geothermal springs all in the area. Hence Desert Hot Springs.

[BLI snowman]

February 12 is snowstorm day. Three separate 6"+ snowstorms on this day here in the last few decades (1990, 1995, 2021).

No such luck today, so I went to the closest snow I could find and hiked up Silver Star Mountain. Still a couple feet iced over on much of the trail, so definitely needed the poles and microspikes. But there were still a number of surprisingly elevated clear areas where it was more exposed to the sun, even up at the top.

 

 

[TT-SEA]

9 minutes ago, The Blob said:

From San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. That area has enough water flowing down from the mountains they don't really have to rely on out sourcing too much.

 

ETA, There is also White Water near by, plus with the San Andreas there are spots with sag ponds and geothermal springs all in the area. Hence Desert Hot Springs.

Good to know... thanks for the info.    

[T-Town]

Twilight at 6:30 today.