The Glorious Sunshine Continues

The mercury bottomed out right at sunrise around 7:45-8:00 AM at a chilly but not too cold 25.8 degrees. We are soaring on our way up the upper 40's this afternoon. There is nothing but gorgeous blue space overhead and a raging ball of fire blazing its way across the winter sky. I have the good fortune to be showing property today under these fabulous conditions.

Later on towards the first part of February, the long term computer models are suggesting a more wintry pattern may develop. Some snowflakes and other assorted freezing precipitation may find its way back to the 'Couv'.

So get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Are you kidding me with this sunshine?

31 degrees at 9:45 AM under sunshine
as I took my dog to the vet this morning

Holy San Diego Sunnyness, Batman the great Yellow Orb is burning up a big blue sky; AGAIN! It's 11 AM and the merc is up just over the 40 degree mark on its way to the upper 40s. The 50 mark will be made in the breezy spots along the Mighty Columbia River later on.

January is a month that typically is limited to a couple of days with El Sol running the show. This month has had a whole winter's worth of clear days. That pesky fog has socked us in at times over the last several weeks but days like today have not been by any means a rarity. Generally a clear sky yields lows in the 20s and we have had those, but when the thick fog is absent that late January sun can warm us into the 40s pretty easily.

The view out the window of my home office as I write this

I am going to find a reason to get outside and stay there. Vitamin D fortified rays from the home star are beamed down outside as I write!

We have less than three inches of water in the bucket and the month is almost done. I think we need a big fat wet storm to come in. One of those southern "pineapple express" deals would hit the spot. But until that happens just get outside. Soak it up my friends, soak it up!

Oh So Gorgeous Today!

It was a gorgeous afternoon today with a high around 44 at my weather station under big bold sunshine and a clear blue sky. It was just fantastic after all these rainy and foggy days since the New Year. The next week appears to be either more of the same or more fog but darn near dead average for temps with lows right at freezing and highs in the low 40s. Ho Hum winter :)

Get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Finally Weather Worthy of our Reputation

We had a chilly but very dry start to our winter. We are just now starting to see a more typical soggy pattern with that incessant drip in the valleys and some healthy snow dumps up high. Despite that cold December, we have almost no snow up in the foothills. Looking up at Silver Star and seeing little or no white is pretty unusual in January. But on a sunny first week of the year, that is exactly what we saw up there. The only white peak were the big year round white tops, like Hood, Rainier, Adams and St, Helens.

Now the classic Northwest rain is a starting to stream in. For our mountain resorts, the last few days a netted a couple of feet of fresh powder and I am sure that makes those ski operators very happy. As for the next several days, the NWS says more, more and then a little more.

Meanwhile down here in the valley we are seeing some almost balmy weather. Temps at the airport have been flirting with 50 degrees all week while my home station has been in the mid forties by day. Mild winter weather has been the recipe these last 5-7 days.

Here is the forecast for the next few, yes that is a fifty in there... get out and soak it up my friends; soak it up.

Happy New Year!

Hello and like the title says, Happy New Year! The New Year's Eve was foggy and about average for temps across our region. I hope you all had a great time.

Another month is in the books and December went down as rather chilly and bone dry for December. A lack of precipitation has been the theme in calender year 2013. Just 31 inches of rain fell from January 1, 2013 till New Years Eve. We were well below average on both daily highs and overnight lows. I had one morning with a low just 1/2 degree shy of my all time (12 years) low.

Let's take a look at the month by the numbers. The average observed low was 30.14 degrees which is nearly 3 cooler than my 12 year average for December. Also roughly 3 under was the average highs at 39.20 degrees. The coldest morning was a 9.1 on the 8th and the coldest afternoon high was on that same day with a reading of 26.9. The warmest temp was on the 1st of the month with a balmy 53.7 degrees and the warmest overnight low came on that same day as well with 46.2. The wettest day was the warmest day bringing 1.8 inches of rain on the first of the month. That was more than half the monthly total which amounted to a desert-like 3.2 inches. I typically have about 8 in the bucket in December. We had some light snowfall totaling just 1.75 inches, most of which fell on the 6th.

Precipitation Rain and Snow

This month had the longest stretch of continuously sub-freezing temps since I began keeping records here in 2002. I have had several three day stretches under the freezing mark but this one went a full five. It is not rare for the daytime highs to be stuck under 32 but it is unusual. Stringing a whole work-week of sub freezing days is legitimately rare.

The initial look for the first half of January is pretty standard fare for winter with average temps and typical precipitation. The whit fluffy variety appears to be staying up above 1000 feet for the next several days. But as usual, you never know.

Get out and enjoy the weather. Soak it up my friends, Soak it up.